HLS Christmas Challenge May "Gift"

Good evening all.

Progress is being made on the house - my craft room is finished and I'm beginning to move stuff up there. I am regretting being on the third floor though having to carry everything up two flights of stairs!! Three bedrooms now have some paint on them too so I'm beginning to see an end result finally.

Trying to keep up with my DT commitments here amongst the chaos! Today it's time for the team to showcase their wares for the May Christmas challenge over at HLS, the theme this month is "Gift".

A very quick and simple card from me using leftovers which were lying on my desk, a little topper from my stash and a few gems.

Sentiment is from HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments, die is from Memory Box.

Christmas Card Club "Icicles"

Good morning all.

We're staying near Hamilton at the moment for a few nights before returning to Auckland and flying home later this week. Managed a trip to Hobbiton earlier today...they put on a golf cart to transport us around, it was like being on a private tour! Sam our driver acted as our personal guide and we also got to see parts not open to the public...a fabulous time was had :)

Kate has set us a theme of "Icicles" this time at our little Christmas Card Club....hmmm I've strayed a little off theme and gone with snowflakes, I hope you don't mind Kate?

Snowflake frame die from Memory Box which was a recent purchase and needed test driven. Background is smooshed distress paint. Sentiment die from Woodware. Gems from my stash.

If you'd like to see what the other girls made you'll find their links in my sidebar.

It's Your Birthday

Good morning all.

Headed to Dunedin today for a two night stay in Portobello, hoping to see some penguins.

Yesterday my Aunt was 93, this is the card I made her.

Dies from Wplus9, Spellbinders and Memory Box. Stamps from Imagination Crafts. Ribbon and bow from my stash. Background is a second pull from one of my Distress Paint smooshing sessions.

HLS Mixed Media Challenge January "Stencil"

Good evening all.

Time once again to inspire you for this month's Mixed Media Challenge at Happy Little Stampers. Our theme for January is:

This challenge is sponsored by

Winner will receive one stamp set from HLS.

Here is my card, made for a nephew who has a birthday this month.

Background made with 2 stencils from Memory Box inked with blueprint sketch and hickory smoke DI. Backing card from Kanban. Happy die from Whimsy Stamps. Birthday (heat embossed with EP), dots and circles from Mix Mash stamp set.

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see the inspiration from the other girls, you won't be disappointed.

Challenges entered:

More Mixed Media - blue

Where the HeART is - anything goes

ABC Challenge - Y for your choice

The Sisters of Craft - anything goes

Seize the Birthday - anything goes

HLS Mixed Media Challenge December "Anything Goes"

Good evening all.

This is my second post tonight if you'd like to see my make for Stencil Sunday click here.

Time for our second mixed media challenge at Happy Little Stampers, we've loved seeing all your entries last month. Our theme this month gives you plenty of scope, but please remember mixed media projects only.

We're being sponsored by Happy Little Stampers

and the winner will receive one set of stamps.

Here is my project:

Background started as a piece of smooshing with distress paints. I then used a Memory Box stencil and embossed it through the GC before inking with broken china DI, after removing the stencil I inked again with shaded lilac DI. The penguin, snow and tree dies are all from Lawn Fawn. Snowflake from Spellbinders. Sentiment from Mixed Christmas Sentiments. 

Gems, cord and brad from my stash.

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see the inspiration from the other girls, you won't be disappointed.

Challenges entered:

Craft Stamper - take it make it sharing the season

A Gem of a Challenge - anything Christmas goes

Sparkles Forum Christmas - die cuts

Through the Purple Haze - Christmas

CHNC extra -  anything Christmas goes

Artistic Stampers - Christmas

That Craft Place - Christmas

Textured Tag

Good afternoon all.

What a cold wet miserable day it's been so far! Happy to say I made my final Christmas card yesterday though...now to start next years!

My turn today to show a tutorial over on the ARTplorations blog, this month I'm showing how I added texture to this Christmas tag using a stencil.

Challenges entered:

Craft Stamper - take it make it November

Simon Says Stamp - Christmas

Cut it Up - inspired by song, movie or book (Candle in the Wind)

Creative Artiste - anything mixed media optional traditional Christmas colours

Love 2 Create - anything mixed media/creative goes

That Craft Place - anything mixed media

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it...

Good morning all.

 I started this tag on Friday night and all I had to do today was colour the image and stick it all together...well I finally managed!

The tag was one of my distress paint smooshing ones from last week. Postie had finally arrived Friday (after slapping on a Customs charge) with a parcel of Radiant Gels from ColourArte and I was keen to test them out...stencils from Memory Box. Love the shimmery finish you get. Snow people from Joanna Sheen, coloured with promarkers. Landscape die from Lawn Fawn. Snowflake dies from Spellbinders. Sentiment from Woodware. Gems, stickles and fibres from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Loll's 12 Tags of Christmas

CHNC Extra - anything Christmas

Allsorts - anything but a card

Crafty Calendar - sparkle, bling and embellish

Sweet Stampin' - wrap up warm

Alphabet Challenge - T for tis the season

Brown Sugar - no patterned paper

Really Reasonable Ribbon - tag you're it

That's Crafty - tag you're it

Craft Stamper - take it make it November

Hello

Good morning all.

Still battling away with our New Zealand itinerary, I think we're 3/4 of the way there...gosh it's hard going! We want to fit as much as possible in but don't want to spend the whole time on the road living out of a suitcase.

Sharing today the card I made for October's Card Chain Challenge which was sent to Jerrie in Wisconsin.

Dies from Wplus9, Spellbinders and Memory Box. Back ground made using the Alcohol Marker Marbling technique. Pearls and sequins from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

ABC Challenge - u for unlimited

613 Avenue Create - anything goes

Amusing - sequins

Glitter n Sparkle - anything goes

Anniversary Wishes

Good morning all.

We spent a lovely day with my Aunt and Uncle yesterday.....a morning catching up, lunch in Paignton then hubby and I had a brisk walk with my Uncle to Sharkham Point - 4 miles in under an hour with my Uncle setting the pace at nearly 87 year old! Looking forward to spending some more quality time with them over the next two weeks.

An anniversary card to share today made for my niece and her husband who celebrate their first anniversary later this week.

Kraft card base; die from Memory Box; hearts stamp from Unity; sentiment stamps from Imagination Crafts; paper from Nitwits and sequins from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - anything goes make it floral

Simply Papercraft - anything goes

Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes

Crafty Time - punches or dies

Sparkles Forum - vintage/shabby chic

The Sisters of Craft - anything goes

Scrap and Craft - celebration

Live Love Enjoy

Good morning all.

Off to view a property this morning then it's onto a funeral of a second cousin who died last Sunday...he was only 49 but had spent over 20 years mourning the death of his wife and 6 month old son. I think today's project is appropriate.

Sharing today the second project I made for my DT application at STAMPlorations...a 6x6 canvas.

Again all the stamps and stencils were from STAMPlorations. I started with a layer of gesso on my canvas then stencilled the confetti circles with texture paste on one side. I then attached the butterfly mask and used a brayer to add acrylic paint. I stamped the trendy butterfly stamps onto the mask using Archival inks. Rosette is a Memory Box die. Words were stamped onto tissue paper and added with gel medium.

Challenges entered:

Rhedd's  Creative Spirit - anything goes

Scrap Around the World - mood board

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

Whoo-hoooo!

Good afternoon all.

Thank goodness today is a bit warmer than yesterday! I had to go down home for a funeral and boy was it draughty in the church yard....sadly I have another to go to next Monday too.

Today I'm celebrating though...I've had my first card published in a magazine!! I applied several weeks ago to be on the reader design team at Quick Cards Made Easy and was accepted for issue 141 which has gone on sale today....I've just got back from Asda with my copy so only just found out.

This is what I made with the gorgeous bonus papers we were given to work with.

I printed onto pearlised paper and used the dotty paper as a base, then used the large Ringlets die from Memory Box and the inlaid die technique to piece a pattern with the floral papers. The stitched scallop border and sentiment dies are from Lawn Fawn.

To say I'm chuffed is an understatement!!!

Happy Birthday Son

Good morning all.

I think summer is forecast for the rest of this week...looking forward to a little warmth and sunshine!

It's going to be a busy week....Gary leaves on Thursday for his trip to Iceland and his motor bike is only just ready to go on the road!! We're a bit concerned he hasn't had much road practice yet but there again he hasn't had time to learn any bad habits either. He has his birthday next week so that has to be sorted before he goes and younger son has his birthday on Friday so there will be lots of celebrations before the week's out.

Today I'm sharing the card I've made for Mark.

After die cutting a panel with a nestie square I used texture paste to emboss the Texture Distress Grid stencil from Memory Box. Once dry I masked the edges and using stamps from STAMPloration's Celebrate Artsy set I stamped over the paste. Stamps were inked with DI and sprayed with water. Happy die from Whimsy Stamps is cut three times, birthday die is from Clearly Besotted. A pearl, some sequins and black soot splashes finish the card.

Challenges entered:

Pretty Pink Posh Water Colour Bloghop - use water colours

Happy Little Stampers CAS - sprays/mists

My Time to Craft - male

Crafts 4 Eternity - birthday

Simply Create Too - male

Virginia's View - ombre/mono

Moving along with the Times - happy birthday

Mema's Crafts - twist male

Addicted to Stamps - make your mark

Simon Says Stamp - for a man

Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday - rainbow

Eclectic Ellapu "Anything Goes"

Good morning all.

Another quiet weekend apart from hubby hammering and banging whilst making a garden shed! Saturday was glorious so I ended up sitting in the garden with my new Craft Stamper magazine which postie had delivered. After an evening stroll with hubby and the dog I managed some craft time. Yesterday was spent catching up on a few things followed by another crafty evening.

Another month passed...can't believe how fast this year is going! Today sees the start of a new challenge at Electic Ellapu and the challenge for the Pink Team is "Anything Goes".

I've done some journalling for my inspiration project.

Stencils are all from Memory Box. Stamps from Crafter's Companion, Unity Stamps, STAMPlorations, Kanban and Personal Impressions. The gorgeous die cuts were a RAK all the way from sunny Mauritius and were the inspiration for these pages.

Do pop over to the blog to see the inspiration from the other girls, you won't be disappointed and if Steam Punk is your thing then you can join in with the Purple Team.

Challenges entered:

The Artistic Stamper - summer is on it's way

Rhedd's Creative Spirit - anything goes

Mixed Media Monthly - a year of challenges

I've used January's new to you prompt...the majority of the stamps and stencils used are new or being used for the first time.

Lulupu - summer splash

Hello

Good morning all.

A funny old day yesterday, woke to bright sunshine but by dusk it was blowing a gale and raining...looks like more wind and rain today and tomorrow too! Hope it brightens for the Easter Weekend.

A card made for a swap to share today with the theme of "Watch the Birdie".

Backing card, stencil and sparkle medium all from Imagination Crafts. Sentiment die from memory Box and gems from my stash.

This was one of those cards where if something could go wrong it did!! I started by stencilling on plain white card, looked at it and thought silly moo! (or words to that effect!). Re-did no problem, got the topper all made up stuck it onto the base card with foam tape...I'd made an upside down tent fold card!! Managed to correct this without any damage then decided it needed something in the middle of the card so found a nice sentiment which fitted, stamped with stazon ink then remembered the foam tape which meant I got a lousy impression...thought about covering up with a die cut but it wasn't going to look right! I then had a light bulb moment and remembered the stazon remover...things couldn't really get any worse could they...et voila the card was saved!! I quickly did an insert, took a photo and removed it from harms way while it was still in one piece!

Challenges entered:

613 Avenue Create - anything goes

Scribble and Scrap - anything goes

Crazy 4 Challenges - let's think spring

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - anything goes/add a sentiment

Simply Create Too - anything goes

Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes

Dream it Up - Marching into spring

What makes you Different

Good afternoon all.

Domestic Goddess hat has been dispensed with for today and I'm having five minutes before I need to start cooking! Another glorious spring day here, just hope it lasts all weekend.

A second post from me today...running out of month to enter some challenges!

This is a small canvas, painted first with gesso then, using a brayer I layered opaque and translucent Fresco Finish paints in various shades of blue, adding a layer of gesso between each colour. I used Grunge Paste for the first time with a stencil from Memory Box and painted over it once dry with the darkest shade of paint. The NBUS stamps are from Unity Stamps...stamped onto tissue paper and added to the canvas with gel medium. I used a versamark pen and various EP's to add colour to the flowers and leaves, then painted the rest with Fresco Finish paints.

This is my first attempt at this type of image on a canvas and I'm quite pleased how it turned out...but there is room for improvement! Not sure whether to add anything else or leave it be...

Challenges entered:

Inkspirational Challenge - she art

Unity Stamps - Friends with Flair

Darnell's NBUS challenge- #4

Stamp Artic - use stamps

STAMPlorations - stamps & stencils

We wish you a Merry Christmas

Good morning all.

I think we've just seen the first weekend of spring...still very cold but glorious sunshine. We had a lovely night out on Saturday with family...good food and company and lots of laughter.

Yesterday afternoon would have been better spent in the craft room than watching an appalling game of football but I did get time to make one card. Today's share is a Christmas card...I'm lagging behind with my counter so need to get a shift on.

The ladies at LIM have a CASE the DT challenge this week, I've chosen to CASE Anne's cute one layer card.

Using my favourite PB penguins stamped off the page and coloured with promarkers then glamour dust added to the hats. Sentiment is a NBUS stamp from Memory Box, it does have a bird on it which I masked off when inking it. Bakers twine from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Less is More - CASE a DT card

CHNC - Christmas singing

Fashionable Stamping - go to stamp (the PB penguins is my go to Christmas stamp)

Winter Wonderland - warm winter wishes

Darnell's NBUS challenge #4