MIchelle Lupton's Case me a Christmas Card Challenge

 It was lovely to get a message from Michelle Lupton asking me to once again be part of her annual challenge.

Michelle creates a card inspired by one of mine and vice versa. I love seeing all of her invited guests in the build up to Christmas.

This is the beautiful card of Michelle's I chose this year:

I loved these elements especially:

- ink blending (Michelle's is seamless!)

- stars/sparkle

- the strip of intense colour across the card with all of that gorgeous white space to emphasise it.

Here's my spin on it:

Instead of stamping and embossing the stars, I chose to stamp using Darkroom Door's Starry Night Background stamp and use a mist of water instead of ink. Because I used Distress Oxide for the ink blending, when I stamped with water it dissolved the ink and I was able to lift it off with an absorbent paper towel.

I found a scrap of holographic cardstock and cut the words (Simon Says Stamp die) and the strips, then added some adhesive gems for extra sparkle.

And because I can never stop at just one when I'm inspired, here are another couple of cards:

Here they are all together:

Thanks for looking, and don't forget to pop over to Michelle's blog to see which card of mine she cased and to follow all of her wonderful crafty happenings.

CASE me a Christmas Card Challenge

 The lovely Michelle Lupton has her annual challenge running again. 

This year she's hosting a bunch of cardmakers from around the globe, and our challenge is to case one of her creations from her blog.

Michelle's take on one of my cards can be found here. 

This is the beautiful card I chose. You'll find it here on Michelle's blog:

What I loved about it that made me want to case it:

• the colour scheme is awesome
• love the repetition of stripes of colour
• love the subtle glitter effect on the word JOY

Here's what I came up with:

I used Waffle Flower's Nesting Circles dies (there are heaps of circles in this set!), and the words are from an old Simon Says Stamp die set.

While I had everything I needed out, why make just one card when you can make five? Here we go:

The Merry Christmas stamp is MFT, the ink is Catherine Pooler's Skylight and I used Altenew's Transluscent Pearl embossing powder over the top of it for just a touch of sparkle.

The card above uses a Paper Rose Studio stamp set together with a Pinkfresh Studio die.

^The leaf dies and the stamp are from Paper Rose Studio.

...and last but not least, the deer head and the word 'merry' are Paper Rose Studio, and the Christmas die is an old Simon Says Stamp.

Michelle - thank you for once again including me in your annual challenge! A showcase of cardmaking talent from around the world is just what the soul needs after the year we've all had. Check out all of the amazing artists on Michelle's blog:

https://handmade-by-michelle.blogspot.com/

I love Michelle's blog - it is one of the most inspiring places on the internet.

Thanks for dropping in everyone!

A Challenge with Michelle Lupton

I was invited by the lovely Michelle Lupton to participate in her annual "Challenge me a Christmas Card," where she invites a guest to choose a theme and then we both create a card.

Seeing as it's Halloween today, I went with "Creepy Christmas." This gave me an opportunity to dust off some neglected but very much loved stamps from Stampotique to create this:

Stamps: Dwindled, Christmas Cubed by Daniel Torrente and Jill Penney, Web by Jo Capper-Sandon
Coloured with Copic markers. The Web stamp only covered half the card front so I have filled in the right hand side with a Copic Multiliner.

You can see Michelle's very creative take on the challenge here.

A huge thanks to Michelle for the challenge and chance to update this blog - six months is enough of a break I think!

Stencil It Challenge

The challenge on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog this week is to Stencil It!. Here's a card I made by happy accident:

The butterfly (Tim Holtz Butterfly Sketch) was stamped on a piece of card that had some Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink Spray on it. The background was made when I sprayed Wild Honey Distress Ink Spray through a stencil (Tim Holtz Bubble) onto another project, and there was so much product left on the stencil I placed it on another piece of cardstock and voila! A happy accident background. Gotta love the unpredictability of working with sprays and stenicls.

The butterfly body has some seed beads stuck on with Glossy Accents.

Thanks for looking!

Something new challenge

I made this card for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. It called for us to use something new, so I used some of my Finnabair stamps (bought a while ago but still unsued until now!), and my new Candied Apple Distress ink:

Lots of lovely spattering and dripping using the inks and spray inks together with some tea stained fabric and lace and some inked up wooden embellishments. The word comes from the Big Chat sticker pad.

Thanks for looking!

CAS Fabulous

This is a clean and simple card suitable for an older teen and beyond:

The stamp is Asteroid Belt by Seth Apter, and the word has been die cut from glitter foam using a KaiserCraft die. I finished it off with some enamel dots and some diamentes.

I'd like to enter this into the CASology 179:Simple challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sketchy Boards Challenge Guest spot

A few weeks ago, my talented friend Ness Henry asked if I'd be interested in a guest spot on a fabulous monthly challenge called Sketchy Boards. A sketch and an image are provided for inspiration, and I was inspired by both.

I was delighted to be asked! Here's my layout:

and here are a couple of close ups:

You can enter this month's challenge and see some awesome inspiration from the design team on the Facebook page.

Thanks for dropping in!

Bombshell Stamps June Colour Challenge

Here's my entry to the Bombshell Stamps June Colour Challenge:

I stamped and embossed the butterflies and coloured them in with Gelatos. The blue background was also created with Gelatos:

We have used this colour swatch from Design Seeds:

Why not pop over to the Bombshell Stamps blog and enter a card yourself? You don't have to use Bombshell stamps, but you'll receive an additional chance to win the fabulous prize, which is a $20.00 gift certificate to Bombshell's store.



Thanks for dropping in!

CCAYR mid month inspiration

Wow - mid month already! Time for some inspiration for our poinsettia challenge at Christmas Cards All Year Round:

Some washi tape and a Stamp It stamp on a tag with a Spellbinders poinsettia flower. Quick, easy and mass-producible!

Check out the blog for some more mid month inspiration from our talented design team.

Thanks for stopping in!

Berry71Bleu March challenge

Members of the Something Tattered design team were asked to contribute to the Berry71Bleu blog for their March challenge.  Here's my card I made using Something Tattered stamps and some Simon Says Stamp and Papertrey Ink dies:

Pop over to the blog for some amazing inspiration and enter the challenge for some wonderful prizes.

Thanks for stopping by today!

October mid month at CCAYR

Time for some mid month inspiration from the team at Christmas Cards All Year Round.  Our theme this month was "Getting ready for Christmas," and here's my card:

We're running an extra challenge this month, and all you need to do is make a set of five cards. You can read all about it here.

We'd love to see your entry this month - pop over to the blog and check out the inspiration from our design team and guest designer.

Thanks for stopping in today

October challenge at CCAYR

This month's theme at Christmas Cards All Year Round is Getting Ready for Christmas.  Here's my sample:

It's a cute little owl about to post off a Christmas card - something we should all be getting ready to do in no time at all! The circles are cut with Spellbinders dies, and the envelope is made by folding up a heart die cut.

Pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with.There are two challenges happening
this month - one is a single card and the second is a five card challenge. All the details are on the blog, and the prize this month is a couple of cling mount stamps from Platypus Creek Stamping & Craft. Hope you can join us!

Don't forget to enter my little giveaway here.

Sept mid month CCAYR

Wow - middle of September already! It's time for some mid month inspiration for this month's challenge which is Christmas fairies with a little sparkle.  Here's my card:

This gorgeous little fairy came in a set with this month's issue of Australian Simply Cards - perfect timing! I coloured her with Distress Markers and added some Stickles to her wings.

There's still loads of time to enter this month's challenge. You can enter here, and get some more inspiration from the rest of the design team here.

Thanks for looking!

july mid month inspiration at ccayr

It's mid month inspiration time at Christmas Cards All Year Round. The theme this month is SANTA.  There's lots more inspiration on the blog from the rest of the team. Here's my card:

I used some KaiserCraft paper ranges from Christmases past.

Hope you can join us this month - add your entry here.

Christmas Cards All Year Round July Challenge

An exciting month where we welcome seven new designers! The challenge theme for this month is Santa. Here's my card:

I used one of the new Collage stamps from Darkroom Door called Jolly Santa. Stamped in gold ink and then I stamped the French Script Background Stamp lightly in areas with red ink. The word is from the Christmas Reindeer set. The papers are from Pion, and the sprig of buds came from Papier Valise a long while ago.

You can find all the information you need to enter here. Hope you can join us this month.

Thanks for looking!

CCAYR June challenge

New month, new challenge at Christmas Cards All Year Round. This month the theme is vintage, so get your vintage look Christmas cards happening and into the draw for a couple of Christmas stamps from Platypus Creek.

Here's my sample:

Thanks for stopping by!

Bombshell Stamps Ms May Challenge

Here's the card I made for Ms May's Challenge on the Bombshell Stamps blog:

It was a colour and a texture challenge, and it pushed me creatively which is what a good challenge should do :)

The butterfly is from the Butterfly Dreams set. The background was made with acrylic paints and black colour spray. The silver glitter was added while the white paint was still wet.  The black scroll is a Spellbinders Die D'Lites die - Fantastic Flourish One.

Thanks for looking!

Bombshell Stamps April Sketch Challenge

I do love a sketch! Here's the sketch from Bombshell Stamps for April:

 

and here's my take:

 

 

See? I flipped it on its side so I could use this image of a really cool car from the Speed Shop set. I coloured it with Copics (Warm Grays), and I used the airbrush and some Distress Ink (Pumice stone) for the background. Even then it was looking a little too 'white', so I grabbed my chicken wire stencil and some black ink to dirty it up a bit.  I used the little skull image in the stamp set to add something to the grey paper too.

You can join in the fun too by visiting the Bombshell Stamps blog, checking out the awesome samples from the Design Team, and adding your entry with the Inlinkz tool at the bottom. Couldn't be easier!

Have a great weekend everyone else - I'll be working :(