Happy Everything Goes!

Here is a card I made for my sister in law whose birthday is tomorrow. After being inspired by the recent Pajama party to use my Folk art medallion set with some vivid colours I set about finding the perfect combination of colours. After some experimentation I decided to go for Distress Inks in Seedless Preserve, Forest Moss and Chipped Sapphire.

I took the tiny pennant from the set and stamped along the central section with alternating colours.

I also embossed some purple card with Swiss dots and stamped an extra medallion and some leaves for embellshmenst. Finally the sentiment is Paper Smooches from the set Simply Said.

I'm entering this into the Waltzingmouse Pajama Party Bedtime story sketch

and the Paper Smooches Anything goes challenge

Waltzingmouse Flower show CASE

Today we are CASing cards from the recent Waltzingmouse Flower Show.

 I knew when I was looking through the cards that I wanted to CASE JJ Bolton, and had trouble choosing between the two cards she had made, but eventually I settled on the vellum one.

  here is JJs original here

I started off by stamping the main image from Folk Medallions in a rainbow of colours (I do love rainbows!). I then cut a circle in the centre, using circle nestabilities, which would make the centre of the card visible.

I stamped a red medallion onto a piece of white card which would sit inside the card underneath the main medallion and be seen when the card was closed.

Here's how it is when it's open. You can see some of the glitter in the vellum too.

I used my silhouette to cut the black cardstock to the shape of the medallion.

Here's how it looks when its closed.

I added some Fantastic Ribbon rainbow ribbon and a Paper Smooch sentiment (Simply Said) which was stamped in versamark and used Wow extra fine white embossing powder.

Here you can see the inside of the card with the small medallion.

I hope you like my take on the original :)

Missed challenges and exciting news

Recently I have been taking part in challenges, only to miss the submission deadline, which is highly frustrating. Its not that I don't get the cards made on time, but getting them onto the computer and blogged can take me a week, by which time the challenge is over!

So I'm posting here a couple of cards I made for challenges which I've missed.

The first was a 10 minute craft dash challenge. When I saw this new challenge on Pretty Pink Posh I knew it was something I wanted to have a try at, as it normally takes me hours putting a card together, so the challenge of making one in 10 minutes seemed a great idea.

I only just managed to make it in 10 minutes, and I have to admit this was my second attempt, as the first one I masked the words but it didn't look good, so second time round I just stamped the sentiment separately and cut it out and layered it on. The sentiment is Papersmooches, and the stamps are Minds Eye Bloom and grow.

The next card was made for the Less is More sketch challenge

I made two cards for this, one was with Waltzingmouse mini star (Teeny trees set), and Stampendous sentiment (Ribbon maker set). In the background is some gorgeous rainbow ribbon.

The second card was made with some bigger stars I have in a Stamperdous step and a WMS sentiment from Teeny trees.

I think I prefer the bigger stars.

I cut out the squares on my cuttlebug with some square dies.

Ok, so onto the EXCITING NEWS!

I have been super busy recently with my little boys, I feel like I never have a minute spare, plus we've been really busy at church, but I have also been sorting out...

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wait for it...

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...

 a book deal!

Indeed, it may seem a little random, and its not craft related, but I have written a short story based on the parable of the lost sheep which my super talented friend has illustrated. To be fair, without her this would never have happened, as I only agreed to write it to showcase her. But this week we signed our contract with the publisher, and its due out in April! I'll let you know when its out though, as I'm sure you'll all want to run out and buy a copy!!!

Fantastic Ribbons Design Team - Washi Tape

It is my great pleasure to be able to let you know that I was recently asked to be part of the wonderful Fantastic Ribbon design team. Along with 9 other lovely ladies I will be bringing a ribbon related project to you every month. This month we are highlighting wonderful washi tape!
I've never worked with washi tape before, but seen it on lots of blogs and thought it looked really interesting. What can I say other than "AMAZING!"
The best way to describe it is like patterned masking tape, its slightly translucent and not too sticky, which means its easy to reposition. I have 2 cards to share which highlight how fantastic washi tape can be as an addition to any card.

The first card I have used two different designs of washi tape(stripes from Art Deco and green polka from  Dolly Mixture) and I just wrapped them around some scrap white card alternating each pattern. You could do this with as many different designs as you can get your hands on!

The next thing I wanted to try was paper piecing! With the washi tape being self adhesive it means you don't have to fiddle around with the tiny sections getting glue everywhere!

Because you're not dealing with a block of paper you have to stick the washi tape to a non slip surface like a craft mat. I lined up the stripy pattern for her skirt on two separate pieces of washi tape, and her beret and waistcoat fitted on a single piece. 

Here's a close up of the finished girl with her washi clothing!

Stamps: Kirsty Wiseman - Petit Bug, Paper smooches - Simply said

My next card is completely CAS! I took the stripey washi tape and again wrapped it around some scrap white card, but this time left a narrow gap between each strip, and then used some embroidery threads in rainbow colours between each strip. A bold sentiment over the top is all that this card needs! I think I'm going to have to order loads of rolls of this stripe, as its just amazing!

Stamps:  Paper smooches - Simply said

For more washi tape projects from the Fantastic design team keep an eye on the Fantastic Ribbons blog.

Bx

Paper smooches SPARKS challenge

The challenge over at Paper Smooches was to find inspiration from this photo

and although it was somewhat out of my comfort zone I really wanted to play along. I was able to download some of their free digi images and use them to make a hybrid card.

First of all I cropped two digi sentiments to make this 'Thanks berry much' one. (I used 'thanks', and 'I love you berry much').

Then I digitally coloured one of the small berries and created a background paper by replicating it and adding some green polka dots. I printed off some outline berries for the main image and coloured them with my promarkers. This was all layered onto my kraft cardstock which I had sent through my cuttlebug with a grid embossing folder to replicate the waffle cone. 

You can see the waffle effect a little clearer on this image.

I hope you like my take on this challenge, it really was quite alot of fun to step outside of my comfort zone for once!