Saturday 31 October 2015

Less is More #248

Morning friends ... have you got that Saturday morning feeling?
It's time for a new challenge over at Less is More and this 
week we'd like to see you have a go at Paper Piecing;
keeping it clean and simple too.

I'm in Christmas mode again so here's my examples and there's more
goodies from my fellow teamies HERE on the main blog! PLUS ...
as it's a 5-week month we have a guest designer this week - 
Val, from Canonbury Creations so hope you'll pop along to her blog
and leave some friendly love and feedback!


My puppy image, accessories and sentiment are from 
Mama Elephant: Playful Pups with the trees from Winnie & Walter:
It's a Wonderful Pennant. These are stamped on DP from Doodlebug
and Pink Petticoat before fuzzy cutting and adhering to the stamped images.
The background sky is embossed using a Sheena Douglass EF: Snowfall,
although it's not too obvious in the photograph and I've used a Mama Elephant:
Landscape Trio die to create a bank of snow.

It's Anything Goes over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge
so I'd like to drop my card in there too.

Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog


Next up I've used last week's sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch, 
unfortunately time ran out last week before I could enter! 


I started out by heat embossing, using WOW Metallic Silver Sparkle,
a gorgeous Christmas sentiment set from Casual Fridays: Lovely Blessings.
The panel is then die-cut using MFT Pierced rectangles. Using an American Krafts
Christmas paper pack I've stamped a stitched heart from Clearly Besotted: 
Love Hearts set and onto the card panel. Although I have the matching dies
I fuzzy cut the heart to fit exactly inside the stamped image, coated it in 
Wink of Stella and glossy accents before mounting the white panel on 
Papermania textured cardstock.

The cue card at CASology this week is 'Heart' so couldn't 
resist popping this one in over there too, especially as my fellow
LIM teamie, Anita is their GDT this week also. 


Ok that's all from me so hope you enjoy the challenge and I'm looking forward 
to some super inspiration from you crafty geniuses as paper piecing isn't my forte.
Have a fun week and thanks for calling by.

Sarah

Thursday 29 October 2015

Uniko Sponsoring Time Out Challenges


Morning friends I'm here on behalf of Uniko who are 
sponsoring the Time Out Challenge today

The theme is Christmas with the optional twist of using 
Pink and / or Purple so I've twisted ... it would be rude not to!!!


I started out by stamping and heat-embossing the sentiment and images from 
the Big and Bold Snow set from Uniko and a snowflake from Stunning Snowflakes.
The embossing powder is Hero Arts clear sparkle and having taped the panel of 
watercolour card to a board I literally drenched it with water using a 
large 'wash' brush. I then added stripes of distress inks in Dusty Concord, 
Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry and Worn Lipstick. Once dry I added another 
layer of ink, dried again then spritzed it with a mix of water and 
perfect pearls to add some shimmer! The panel is then die-cut using
Mama Elephant Index Card dies with a white panel behind die-cut from the same set.

There's loads more inspiration from the DT at Time Out Challenges 
plus some of my fellow teamies at Uniko have also joined in so 
please head over to the Uniko blog HERE for more details.

Quick Edit: Thanks for the 'heads-up' Deborah - I'm linking up at
52 Christmas Card Throwdown with this card as the theme there is
Emboss Resist! Simply couldn't 'resist' playing along!


Thanks as always for stopping by and I hope you have a little
'time out' to play along with the challenge. 
Sarah

Sunday 25 October 2015

AAA Cards #51


Morning friends it's time for the latest challenge over at 
AAA Cards CAS Challenge
and we are going with Halloween - 4 Everyone!
It's an 'all styles game' so we can't wait to see what you come up with.
Here's my card and I'm a CAS girl at heart so still couldn't
bring myself to slap on lots of layers and patterns.
This one's for my niece and nephew so hope they'll love it
and their mum will just love me for reminding them about pumpkins!

I started out by stamping and embossing my pumpkin / sentiment stamp
from Clearly Besotted then inking and blending with distress inks in
Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade and a little Black Soot.
For some added detail I've spritzed it with perfect pearls, die-cut the panel
using MFT Die-Namics Pierced Rectangle Dies, mounted on 3d Foam 
with a wrap-around of coordinating bakers twine to finish.


I hope you feel inspired to play along and please head over to the
AAA Card Blog HERE as there's more wonderful creations from
my fellow teamies ... and here's a little photo inspiration to spur you on!


I'm also heading over to Timeout Challenges with my card, where
the photo inspiration is also on a similar theme.
I've focused on black, white and orange plus pumpkins!
Spray paint dollar store glass candle sticks black and add pumpkins for Halloween decoration
Oh just noticed another regular challenge I like to enter;
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge
and the theme is 'wrap it up' - what a bonus I used some twine!
Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog
and one more challenge featuring Halloween, pumpkins, owls etc
is Inkspirational so I'll be hopping across there too with my card!
Thanks as always for calling in today and have
some crafty fun with this one!
Sarah

Saturday 24 October 2015

Addicted to CAS #75


Morning friends it's time for a new challenge theme
at Addicted to CAS and we have Ceal hosting for this one.
In true Halloween style she's chosen 'spooky'

Here's my card using the Halloween Spirit set by Clearly Besotted
 to create what I hope passes for 'spooky' in a mini frame die cut 
from MFT Die-namics. The background is inked in Dusty concord, 
Seedless Preserves and Black Soot with some glossy accents for added interest.





Our lucky winner for this challenge will receive 4 digi stamps
from Sweet Pea Stamps store


There's more spooky-fun-halloween cards created by my 
fellow teamies at ATCAS HERE and we also have a super
talented guest designer; Joyce from Cards By The Sea.
If you've never visited Joyce's blog you are SO missing a treat!

I hope you feel inspired to play along and thanks as always for 
calling in today. Catch you soon and have fun.


Sarah

Less is More #247


Morning friends it's that time and yet again another
week has zipped by in a flash with hardly any crafting achieved.
Hubby kindly put some new shelves up in my craft room so I've
been trying to sort my stash and organise it better this week!

So it's sketch time over at Less is More, fairly straightforward
when first looking at it but still had me scratching my head!

Anyway here's my first card followed by the sketch ...


I started out by die-cutting the smallest snowflake die from 
the Uniko Studio Snowflake trio dies then adhered them to my 
card base. Using MFT Die-namics fishtail flags I've die-cut a 
narrow flag, with a die-cut 'happy' word die from Hero Art and a 
'Christmas' sentiment from Uniko: Simply Said Christmas.
It looked a bit bland for the festive season so I added mini gems 
for a bit of Christmas cheer and sparkle!

Here's the sketch and I've a few more examples below




Christmas again, this time using Clearly Besotted: Rockin Robin stamps,
it's basically a one layer card but decided to add the red off-set panel
for added interest along with some wink of stella and glossy accents.


... and these next two feature a negative and positive of the same panel.
Both use Uniko Studio: Pure Florals - Cosmos heat embossed
in WOW metallic pale gold. The first one uses a die-cut 'you' sentiment 
from WPlus 9 and 'Thank' sentiment from Clearly Besotted: Simply Quilled.
The 'missing' panel is die-cut using 2 snowdrift border dies from
MFT Die-namics


looking at the 'blank' panel in these photos now on screen it doesn't appear 
to be from the same panel - just shows what a difference a change of day / 
time / backdrop and perhaps exposure can make!


Ok limettes, it's over to you and I can't wait to see how you
are inspired by the sketch! If you'd like to see some more examples
please head across to the Less is More blog HERE where my
teamies have some super impressive designs.

Thanks as always for calling by and I'll be back in an hour with a new 
challenge over at Addicted to CAS so hope to see you then.

Sarah

Friday 23 October 2015

Uniko Challenge #26 - Reminder


Hi friends it's time for a gentle little 'nudge' as there's
still one more week to play along in our challenge over at

Uniko where the theme is Geometric 
using circles or squares if you'd like to try the optional twist

Here's my card and as we've zapped the fall cards and Halloween is in full swing 
I've gone for another major holiday we've still to celebrate this year
 ... yep you guessed!

Using masking paper and a Sizzix Framelit triangle die I've used the
negative die-cut to mask my card panel before inking with distress inks
in Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Chipped Sapphire. With the mask
still in place I've stamped rows of one of the border stamps from 
Background Builders Circles in Versamark ink before embossing with WOW
Metallic silver sparkle. The same treatment for the sentiment which is from the
Simply Said - Christmas set and the little trunk, also 'triangular' is from the tip
of an arrow from the Accent Essentials - Arrows set.

I hope you feel inspired to play along and as well as my fellow teamies
cards over on the Uniko blog HERE we've got two fabulous guest designers
helping us out this month. I'm simply speechless at being in a line-up with them!
I do hope you'll pop along to check out their amazing talent and leave some
friendly feedback ... we all love a comment don't we!


I'd like to pop this one in at Freshly Made Sketches as I've 
literally gone straight with this week's sketch!



Oh! Before I forget details of the prizes up for grabs if you are one of our lucky 
winners in this challenge are explained over at Uniko HERE 
so don't delay ... get crafting and have some fun!
Thanks for calling in today and I'll be back tomorrow with
the latest challenge details for Less is More ... best get my act together!

Sarah

Saturday 17 October 2015

Less is More #246


Morning friends, it's time for a new challenge over at 
Less is More 
and it's Theme Week! Our theme is Masculine!

I can hear you groan ... me too!
These are always tough to do as I automatically go for 
my florals, girlie and butterfly sets which don't sit too well with the guys!
But it's good to get out of our comfort zones now and again plus
boost those masculine makes in the card box so hope you'll play along.


Here's my cards and first out I couldn't resist inking up this 
fairly recent set, for the first time, from Clearly Besotted - Out of This World.


Using Distress inks in Ripe Persimmon & Wild Honey 
I inked a sun / planet. Then with Blueprint Sketch, Faded Jeans and Black Soot. 
I've added a few stars with a white gel pen, coloured the images with Stabilo markers
and mounted them on 3d foam, accented with wink of stella and glossy accents.

I'd like to head over to Inkspirational Challenges with this one and hope 
the glow from my spaceship and sun will pass the requirements!




It's always hard to make sympathy cards but particularly for a guy
so I thought I'd use this new set I picked up from my recent visit
to the Harrogate Showground Craft Fair. It's from Inkylicious and
I've used Dusty concord, Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass and Black Soot
to create what I hope looks like a watery / misty background before
stamping the images and adding a few highlights here and there with
my white gel pen.

It's a colour theme over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge
this week along the Halloween tones but I'm hoping my 
eerie Halloween purple tones will work ok there!

fall-halloween-inspiration

It's a new look cue card at CASology too this week and 
cue word 'You' so I'm dropping in there too with my
Thinking of YOU card!



 ... and last be not least it's silly season!



Well that was last week's theme at CASology and these
silly Face-it stamps from The Alley Way Stamps were still
on my desk so I decided to use them. Laura Bassen did a fabulous
video this week of a shaker card using mason jars and that gave me
the inspiration to go with the jars - they are from the Clearly Besotted
Spring blooms set and I've coloured them with Distress Inks. To accentuate
those silly eyes I've added glossy accents and the sentiments are from
Uniko: All Occasion Sentiments #6 and Simply Said - Birthday

I'd like to link this one up at ColourQ - quite ashamed as I used 
to play along almost every week and haven't joined in for ages.



Ok time for you to jump to it and see what you can come up with.
I'm sure you'll WOW us like you do every week but if you need more 
inspiration there's some fab designs by my fellow teamies HERE

Thanks for visiting today and if I get chance I may have a few
extra cards over the weekend otherwise same time next week!!!


Sarah

Friday 16 October 2015

Uniko Challenge #26


Morning friends it's time for a new challenge for this month
over at Uniko and the theme for this one is 

Geometric with the optional twist of circles or squares

I decided to 'twist' using the Background Builders Square set
which is new to me so I've been having a little play with it!
I wanted to make a retro-type background and I'm sure one of
my grandmas used to have some crockery similar which is where
the inspiration came from ... well from memory anyway!


I've teamed it with white heat embossed sentiments from
All Occasion Sentiments # 6 and Simply Said Birthday
which are adhered to an off-set stitched square die by 
MFT Die-namics. To finish a few sequins and gems from my stash.

I hope you find some time to play along and you have until
Friday, 30th October to enter the challenge.

For more inspiration, don't forget to head across to the main
Uniko Studio blog HERE where my fellow teamies have
created some stunning cards.

What's more we have 2 super cool and talented Guest Designers helping us out 
this month: Rahmat from Cards and Cooking Corner and the super awesome 
Julia Altermann of Just One More Card If you haven't already visited 
these blogs you definitely need to do so as these designers create the
most inspirational work with loads of tips and tricks along the way. 
I hope you'll pop along and leave them some love!

Thanks as always for visiting my blog and I'll be back tomorrow
with the latest challenge details for Less is More

Sarah

Sunday 11 October 2015

Uniko: Revisiting Pure Florals: Poinsettia

Morning crafty pals I'm here with a post for Uniko; October is a 'revisit' 
month where we brush off and dust down a previously released set and re-create
 ... hopefully giving you lots of inspiration along the way!

So in true festive style as we near that busy month ... I don't need to say it!
We are revisiting the Pure Florals: Poinsettia set and I've been loving it!
In fact I think I got a little obsessed with it and couldn't stop inking it up!
I'll be glad though in a few weeks time when I've got some cards in the bag!

First up I've gone all dark and dramatic using the floral image as a 
background with heat-embossing in WOW Metallic Brass sparkle.
The sentiments are also from the set and there's loads to chose from!




Next up I've used the same embossing powder from WOW but on 
white card stock this time. Stamping 2 images before fussy cutting them
 and trimming one down to mount up on 3d foam tape for added dimension.
I've used a Darice lattice embossing folder to the base of the card and some
Papermania textured cardstock for the top. Once again the sentiments are
from the set and heat embossed including the horizontal line which I drew
with a Versamark pen along a ruler before adding the powder.



I hope you'll head over to the Uniko blog to see what the rest of the team
have created and find all the details of the traditional blog hop and prizes on offer!


The October Christmas challenge over at Happy Little Stampers
is featuring Poinsettias so I'm heading across there with my card.



Thanks for calling by and I hope you enjoy the hop!
Sarah

AAA Cards #50

Morning friends it's time to announce the latest challenge
for the next 2 weeks over at AAA Cards and as we've skipped into
October we are looking for CAS Halloween cards
Here's my card - I'm hoping my young nephews will appreciate this one!


I've used a fairly new set from Clearly Besotted: Eye on You, with the spider
from CBS: Halloween Spirits. I've also added a little Landscape type stamp
from Lawn Fawn: Gleeful Gardens and I'm hoping it ties in with the sketch
for this month's Happy Little Stampers Challenge as I'm heading over there.


I hope you feel inspired to join in and don't forget to check out the 
awesome designs from my fellow teamies over on the AAA Cards Blog HERE
and here's a little photo inspiration for you.
This is the October sketch from Happy Little Stampers so if you fancy 
playing along there too it's open for the whole of the month!
Thanks as always for stopping by and I'll be back a little later
with a re-visit post for Uniko so hope you'll pop back then.
Sarah

Saturday 10 October 2015

Addicted to CAS #74


Hi there, I'm back again! 
This time it's to introduce the latest challenge over at 

Addicted to CAS

 I'm the one hosting for this week and I chose the codeword


Having chosen the word it's then the dilemma of what to do with it!
... but I'd held out for ages before giving in to temptation for  the WPlus9 
Unforgettable Elephant  set a few weeks ago SO I knew I'd like to use it
 with a sparkly balloon which in the end turned into a sparkly shaker card
 ... just hope it passes for CAS!


I started out by stamping the elephant in Distress Ink then colouring with
my Zig Clear Brush pens and I daren't tell you how many attempts it took!
The balloon is die-cut using Paper Smooches small balloon set and I've filled
it with sprinkles and gems from Lucy Abrams Lily set. Finally I die-cut the panel
with the scalloped rectangle from Mama Elephant: Index Card dies.

I hope you feel inspired to join in the challenge and don't forget to 
check out the brilliant and sparkly creations by my teamies HERE

... and the super duper Kylie of Happy Little Stampers is our
sponsor for this challenge! Our winner will receive a $20 voucher
to spend in the store! Woah! So what are you waiting for!



Thanks as always for stopping by and I'll be back tomorrow with
a few more posts so hope you'll pop back then.

Have a fun weekend!
Sarah

Less Is More #245

Hi there crafty friends are you ready for a new challenge over
at Less is More I hope so as it's that time of the week!

... and for some of you it's that 'dreaded' One Layer Card week
with an Autumn theme so hopefully not too tricky!

Here's my cards and there's more fabulous inspiration 
from my fellow teamies over on the LIM blog HERE



For this one I've gone with Autumnal colours rather than
the usual 'leafy' images. I started out by stamping and watercolouring
my jug using distress inks in Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn before
masking. Using my inky blending tools I've created the background using:
Gathered Twigs, Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed & Squeezed Lemonade.
To finish I stamped the floral silhouettes and sentiment in Versafine black ink.
All the images and sentiment are from Clearly Besotted: Simple Silhouettes.



This one started out as a landscape card but the more I coloured, turning it
as I went along I preferred the portrait look! As luck would have it I hadn't
stamped the sentiment at that point! So the leaf and branch images are
from Altenew Vintage Flowers set ... but no flowers used. I stamped the 
main background leaves in distress inks then blended different autumn shades
in a loose water-colour type style, adding the veins of the leaves with a fine brush.
The acorns had the same treatment and they are from a set by CBS: Little Things
and the sentiment is from another CBS set: Birch Trees.
I'd like to enter this one over at Timeout Challenges 
where the theme is a play on the words:
 'Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile'
I've just gone with the 'Autumn' though!



Totally CAS and simple for this last one!
I started out by embossing a stitched circle die from Simon Says Stamp
then masking the outer panel of the card. Using Uniko: Natures Treasures II
I stamped multiple leafy sprigs in autumnal shades using Memento dew drops!
The sentiment is an inlaid die-cut from DCWV glitter card.
The 'Hello' is from Clearly Besotted 


I hope you feel inspired to create and there's plenty of inspiration 
outside your front door no doubt ... well certainly if you live in the UK!
I've noticed a definite nip in the air this week!


Thanks as always for calling by and I'll be back in an hour
with the latest challenge details for Addicted to CAS.


Sarah