Pink Blooms ...

 I'm popping in this evening to share another creation made with one of the new stamp sets from Visible Image ... this time I'm featuring the Where the Flowers Bloom.

The card was created using only stamps from this set, it has background stamps, focal images and words - the ideal combination.

I stamped and heat embossed all the images

I coloured the stamping with distress ink and then fussy cut the flower

I stamped the cotton thread stamp and added the flower with foam adhesive along with the sentiment

Stay safe and Keep Crafting

ATSM Anything Goes ...

It is time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More and I'm here to inspire you to get creating and join in with the challenge.  I know this week's theme is a favourite as it's time for Anything Goes!

I was recently asked to create a card for a wedding, this is the design I came up with:

Why not pop by the blog to see the other designs from the Design Team ... I'm know you will not be disappointed with what you see!

Enjoy!

ATSM Clean and Simple ...

It is time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More - this week is one of my favourite - Clean and Simple (CAS).

I'm obsessed with creating Christmas cards at the moment as I am way behind!  I'm still looking for a design that is stylish but quick to make ... this is my most recent design:

I die cut the tree, stamped and heat embossed the design before colouring with distress ink. I wrapped the tree in some fine gold thread, stamped the sentiment and that was it.

I hope you will be drop by the challenge and check out the design teams inspiring projects. I look forward to seeing your creations.

Enjoy!

Home Sweet Home ...

It is time for the start of a new season of CUTploration challenges over at STAMPlorations and I am excited to say I am now a permanent member of the design team!  I had such a great time being part of the Guest Design team that when I was asked to join the main team I did not hesitate.  So this is my first post that I hope will inspire you to join in with the challenge ... if you are not inspired by my project then pop across to the blog and see the awesome projects from the rest of the team.

I went with the literal interpretation and created a 'new home' card with the 'home is where your heart is...'

I used:

CUTlorations: Crazy Double Running Stitched Rectangles; Lower Case Alphabet Plate; Sweet Spring Wishes; Clustered Heart Die.

STAMPlorations: The Bee's Knees - Houses

Distress Inks - Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin, Twisted Citron and Tumbled Glass

I hope you will be inspired to join in with the challenge!  If you fancy treating yourself to some of the STAMPloration products then I have a treat for you - use this code and you will get a 20% discount ... STAMPGIRLELAINE

Enjoy!

AAA Happy Rainbow ...

Good morning ... another two weeks has whizzed by and it is time for a new challenge at AAA Cards and this time we are all about rainbow!!  My favourite kind of colour scheme!

I love the contrast between the colours of the rainbow and black/white ... so this was my starting point and this is my card:

I began by finding every 'birthday' stamp that I own and stamped a section of the card using these and black ink. I also stamped a scrap of card using distress inks in rainbow colours and mixed media stamps.  I die cut 'Happy' from the card and replaced the letters with letters die  cut from rainbow coloured scrap.  I die cut additional letters and then stacked and adhered them to make thick letters.

I used:

Various Birthday stamps

STAMPlorations Mixed Media Grunge Stamp Set

Die-namics High Rise Alphabet Dies

Distress inks - Mustard seed, Carved pumpkin, Candied Apple, Twisted Citron, Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet and Blueprint sketch.

Pop along to AAA Cards and look at all the amazing projects from the design team.  I hope you will be inspired to join in with the challenge.

Enjoy!

AAA One layer ...

Before you think you've gone mad and missed a day let me assure you that it is Saturday! Let me also assure you that I haven't lost the plot either and posted on the wrong day ... you see we have teamed up with "Less is More" to bring a joint challenge running from this morning (8th July) until Friday 21st July - so get the supplies out and start creating ... you'll only need one piece of card!  You see it is a one layer challenge with a coloured base!

A double whammy with two design teams out to inspire you ... check out both blogs for lots of inspiration.  I love the challenge posed by One Layer cards ... at least I do after I've come up with an idea!  The coloured base was a bit more of a worry but then I thought about the 'bleaching' technique and all was good! This is my take on the challenge:

I stamped and heat embossed the lily onto the coloured card base and then used bleach to "paint" the image - the main picture shows the effect more clearly.  I then drew a frame around the lily using an embossing pen and heat embossed it and the sentiment in gold.

I used:

UNIKO - Pure Florals: Lily; Originally Organic

WOW - Gold Embossing Powder

Stampin Up - Bermuda Bay Card

Bleach

Why not pop along to AAA Cards and check out the design team projects ... then get out your supplies and join in with the challenge.  I would love to see your creation.

Enjoy!

ASTM Anything Goes ...

Another week whizzes by and it is time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More ... this time it is Anything Goes>

Why not get out your card supplies and create a card for the challenge ... hopefully my card will inspire you to have a go.  Need more inspiration? then pop over to the blog and check out the brilliant cards from all the design team.

It is unusual for me to use a coloured base for my card but I felt that the flowers worked well on the softness of the Kraft card.  I wanted to use some black embossing paste through a stencil as a backdrop and sometimes black looks very harsh against a white background. The flowers were created by inking the back of a stencil with distress inks and then spritzing with water before placing on some water colour card - when this was dry I stamped the matching images with versafine onyx black ink.

I used:

STAMPlorations - Bloom Sketches Stamp Set

STAMPlorations - Dots all Over and Daisy Dance Stencils

Dreamweaver - Matt Black Embossing Paste

Distress Inks - Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade and Carved Pumpkin

Clearly Besotted - Notebook Edge Die

I hope you will join in with the challenge and look forward to seeing your creations.

Enjoy!

CAS time at Addicted to Stamps and More ...

It is time for the new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More ... and it is my favourite:

This is my card:

This is a simple CAS card with just a stamped image (coloured with Inktense pencils), a die cut panel adhered with foam for dimension and a sentiment.  One focal point and lots of 'white space'.  If you are unsure as to what constitutes CAS the following explains what we at ATSM look for:

Why not get out your materials and join in ... pop across to the blog and check out the design team cards.

Enjoy!

Make Your Mark ...

It's time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More  - it's time to get out your pens, markers, paints, pastels whatever you have to make a mark and create!

I used my Zig markers to create this card:

I stamped the image and coloured it using Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers.  I stitched a border to the panel before adhering it to the card base using some fun foam to add dimension. 

I used:

Inkylicious - Calla Lily Stamp Set

Versafine Onyx Black Ink

Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

I hope that you will pop along and have a look at the wonderful designs from the team.  Why not get out your pens and join in.

Enjoy!

Black and Gold Wedding ...

As the weeks whizz by it is time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More and this week we have a photograph to inspire you.

What catches your eye and imagination?  For me it was the balloons, black and gold and finally I thought it was all set for a wedding celebration - so I incorporated all of these elements into my card:

It is difficult to see the gold but trust me it is there!!  The sentiment is heat embossed with gold embossing powder and the balloon strings are metallic gold thread.  It's a bit of an unusual colour combination for a wedding card but it is beginning to grow on me.

I hope you will pop over to the challenge and take a look at the design teams beautiful cards - why not get your supplies out and join in with the challenge.

Enjoy!

Christmas in April ...

... four months into the year and I'm already failing with one of my New Year Resolutions ... I was supposed to make one Christmas card a week ... I still have time to catch up! At least my design team responsibilities mean that I have created a Christmas card this week ... yes you've guessed correctly we are back to the 'Holiday' challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.

Why not join the challenge and get ahead with your Christmas cards ... it can be other holidays as well!  This is my card:

First I heat embossed the snowflakes with white embossing powder before smooshing them with distress inks to create a soft watercolour background.  I used a small piece of acetate to control where the ink went.   I heat embossed the sentiment onto a small piece of vellum which I wrapped around the panel before adhering it to the card base.

I hope you are inspired to join the challenge.

Enjoy!

Epic Stamping ...

Another month ... can you believe we've made it to April already?!  In the UK it's a month of sunshine and showers ... and that, of course, creates rainbows and that is my inspiration for this card.  I hope that this will inspire you to join in with the new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More - this week it is your choice as Anything Goes 

I hope you will feel inspired to join the challenge.  This is my card:

This card is all about stamping - three stamps and six distress inks.  I treated myself to a stamp positioner and it proved to be invaluable for creating this card.

I used:

STAMPlorations - Grunge Floral Strip

Distress Inks - Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron, Salty Ocean, Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin and Wilted Violet.

I hope you will pop along and join in with the challenge.

Enjoy!

Daffodil ...

Another week has whizzed by and it is time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More - this week it is all about CAS possibly my most favourite style.

Here is my card:

This card is all about the flower!!  I stamped the daffodil using Mustard Seed distress ink before heat embossing with clear powder.  I find heat embossed images easier to water colour as the embossing acts as a barrier to the water.  I then water coloured the image using more distress inks - I also ink blended another piece of card to create the mat and the die cut stick frame.  I adhered the flower with fun foam behind it to add some dimension.

I used:
STAMPlorations Boxed Blooms
WOW Clear Embossing Powder
Distress inks - Twisted Citron, Carved Pumpkin and Mustard Seed
Poppystamps - Stick Frame die

I hope that I have inspired you and that you will join us in this week's challenge - do visit the blog and see all of the design teams fabulous cards.

Enjoy!

Golden delight ...

It's time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More, this week's challenge is:

I hope to inspire you to pop along and join in with the challenge.

It is a very simple design ... I just thought that the beautiful flower should be left to shine!

I used:

Happy Little Stampers - Especially for You

STAMPlorations - Smile and Sitched Rectangle dies

Distress Inks - Carved Pumpkin and Mustard Seed

Cosmic Shimmer Gold Embossing Powder

Enjoy!

Christmas in February ,,,

It is time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More and this week we are looking for cards for Holiday ... that's why it is Christmas in February on my blog!!  I figured if I start this early I might at least have enough cards made by December!  So why not join in the challenge and make a start on your Christmas cards!!  You can, of course, choose to make a card for a different holiday ... Easter, Thanksgiving ... the choice is yours!  

I created my card using my (current) favourite technique of stamping and heat embossing.

The only problem with heat embossing is that the shimmer is very difficult to capture in a photograph but I can assure you that the images do sparkle in real life.

I used:

STAMPlorations - Christmas Bell Medley
Versamark Ink
WOW Silver Embossing Powder
Lawn Cuts Stitched Rectangles
Dienamics Stitched Squares

 I hope my card inspires you to join in ... 

Enjoy!

Exciting News ...

Sometimes life can be very exciting and rewarding ... and the end of 2016 proved to be just that!  You see it went like this ... Addicted to Stamps and More had a call for new design team members ... so I thought I would give it a go and put myself forward for consideration ... guess what happened next ... they invited me to join the team!!   To say that I'm delighted and excited is somewhat of an understatement ... so you join me today for my first official post as a member of the design team hopefully to inspire you all to join in with the challenge.

The new challenge today is:

This is my card to inspire you:

I began by stamping and heat embossing the crocus before water colouring with distress inks.  I then die cut the images and adhered them onto the card base - one straight onto the card and the other two with foam tape to add dimension.  I then stamped the sentiment and considered the card finished!  A simple card created using few techniques.

I used:

Create A Smile - Crokisses stamp set

Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry and Twisted Citron

Simon Says Stamp - Handwritten Borders

Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies

Versamark ink

Versafine Onyx Black Ink

WOW Gold Embossing Powder

I hope that you will pop along to Addicted to Stamps and More and join in with the challenge.

Enjoy!