Stars, stars and more stars ...

Good evening, I have a card to share with you ... ideas are few and far between recently but today has been a good day for creating!  Inspired by a couple of challenges and needing some cards for family birthdays I came up with this:

I die cut the stars from a scrap of a print I'd created using acrylic paints, stencils, stamps and a gelli plate.  I also cut three stars out of the white card - the blue stars were adhered using different thicknesses of foam tape to add dimension.

The two challenges that inspired me are:

TIME OUT Challenges #135

Addicted to Stamps and More #340

Enjoy!

STAMPlorations CUTplorations May Challenge ...

New month and time for a new challenge at STAMPlorations CUTplorations ... this month's inspiration:

This month I have taken the focal image and some of the background shapes to create a Clean and Simple card:

My card is not as colourful as the photograph but I hope you can see he elements that I chose to include - I hope I've shown that you don't have to respond in a literal way!

I used:

STAMPlorations:  Trendy Spring Blooms Dies

                                For the Bird Dies

                            Bloom Happy Dies

                            Trendy Birds 2 Stamp set

                            Mixed Media Grunge Stamp set

I hope you are inspired to join in with the challenge - why not check out the blog for more inspiration from the amazing design team.

Enjoy!

Subtle blues ...

This is the first time in weeks that I have had the time or inclination to be creative ... all of my recent posts were planned in advance for my Design team responsibilities.  Family needs meant that I have been away from home for almost a month and have not felt like being creative but hopefully things will start to change.

I love to craft as it provides a healthy distraction from real life ... so today I created this:

I thought I'd join in with the current challenge at "Less is More":

I took a piece of gelli plate printed card, a couple of dies and a stamp - nothing too complicated!

I used:

Memory Box: Honeycomb Square

STAMPlorations: Flutter Zen 1

UNIKO: Simply Said

Enjoy!

STAMPlorations Spring Fling ...

Spring has sprung and today is Day 12 of the amazing STAMPlorations Spring Fling 12 days of Giveaways - have you joined in yet?  If not you still have time to get involved and be in with a chance of winning some amazing prizes (full details of the prizes are at the end of this post).

If you follow my blog you will know that my favourite style is CAS (Clean and Simple) and my project for the Spring Fling keeps to this style - it was created with limited supplies and is a simple design.

I die cut the stitched spring landscape from a piece of card that I had been cleaning off my brayer on when using my creating other prints using my gelli plate.  It was attached to the card base with foam adhesive to add interest and dimension.  I finished by stamping the sentiment!  As I said a very simple card design enhanced by the texture in the green card from the brayer and the stitched detail from the die.

I used:
STAMPlorations CUTplorations Stitched Spring Landscape
STAMPlorations Bloom Sketches Stamp Set

To win one of the prizes all you need to do is comment on my post, on the other designers’ posts, and on the STAMPlorations blog post for a chance at the prize offered today.

The Prizes:

Day 1 - $15 gift certificate

Day 2 - Choice of 3 in-stock 3x5 stamp sets ($21 value)

Day 3 - $25 gift code

Day 4 - Choice of 3 Sanna Lippert Designs stencils ($15 value)

Day 5 - Choice of 1 in-stock 4x6 Dee's Artsy Impressions stamp set ($15 value)

Day 6 - Choice of 1 cover plate die ($25 value)

Day 7 - Choice of 1 in-stock 4x6 The Bee's Knees stamp set ($15 value)

Day 8 - Choice of 1 in-stock Big Grins by Becca Cruger stamp set ($15 value)

Day 9 - Choice of 3 in-stock CUTplorations word/phrase dies (up to $30 value)

Day 10 - Choice of 1 4x8 stamp set ($20 value)

Day 11 - Choice of 1 in-stock 4x6 Shery Russ Designs stamp set ($15 value)

Day 12 - $15 gift certificate

Day 17 (extra prize) - three winners of $10 gift codes

***Commenting ends on Friday, April 19, with winners announced in a special post on Monday, April 22.***

I hope you will join in.

Enjoy!

STAMPlorations CUTplorations April Challenge ...

Good Afternoon ... new month and time for a new challenge at CUTplorations ... spring is here in the UK and Easter is just around the corner so it seems appropriate that the inspiration photo is ...

... rainbow eggs!!  Beautiful image and I've created a literal interpretation of the photo - this is the CAS card I created:

I created the bowl first using two dies from the ATC Tag Builder set - the dies are actually used to create the top of the tags but i paired them together and turned them upside down to cut the bowl.  I took two stamps from the Bloom Doodles set and coloured them with Zig markers, fussy cut them out and turned them upside as they resemble eggs!  Sometimes you need to think 'outside of the box'!  Added the eggs and bowl to the card base with foam tape for dimension.  Finally I die cut the sentiment ... and that was it!

I used:

STAMPlorations - Bloom Doodles

                              - ATC Tag Builder

                              - Uppercase Alphabet Plate Die

ZIG Markers

I hope you will consider joining in with the challenge - if you need more inspiration check out the other designers' projects - they are amazing.

Enjoy!

AAA Cards ... Made in Minutes

Good morning ... as another month comes to an end it is time for a new challenge at AAA Cards.  The challenge this time is to create a CAS card with the following theme:

The challenge is about creating a card in the shortest time possible - under 15 minutes would be great, but no more than 30 minutes - so gather up your supplies, set the timer and get creating!!

I've actually created two cards - same design different colours.  The first card took me about 10 minutes to create but it will be no surprise that the second one took less than 5 minutes!!

It is difficult to see from the photograph but the cream stripes have been dry embossed to add texture and interest.  I began by embossing a piece of cream card before cutting it up and adding it to the front of the card.  I die cut two stars and added them to the cross over with some foam tape for more dimension.  The sentiment was stamped using ink to match the card base before being attached with foam tape.  Having completed the first card I decided to create the second one with the left over cream card.  I'm quite pleased with the results as I rarely create cards with a coloured base - I also like to find a design that is simple enough to be re-created quickly when time is short!

I used:

Sizzix Nesting Star dies

Embossalicious Embossing Folder

Stampin Up Bermuda Bay Ink

                    Baked Brown Sugar Ink

I do hope that you will join in with the challenge and see how quickly you can create a beautiful CAS card!

Enjoy!

AAA Cards ... Use one corner

Good Morning ... time for the start of a new challenge at AAACards and I'm here to inspire you to get out your crafty supplies and join in.

Keeping your design in one corner is a great way to keep your card Clean and Simple (CAS).  This is my take on the theme without the optional twist.

I used a corner die to cut a section out of the front panel and added a scrap of gelli printed card behind the opening.  I added the panel to the card base using foam tape for added dimension.  Stamped and heat embossed the sentiment before adding it to the card using some more foam adhesive.

I used:

Tim Holtz Mixed Media #2 die (661185)

Acrylic paints and stencils for the gelli print

Wow Gold Embossing powder.

I hope I have inspired you to join in with the challenge - if you need more inspiration then check out the blog and see the amazing designs from the rest of the Design Team.  Please remember to keep your design Clean and Simple (CAS).

Enjoy!