Time Out Challenge #30

Hello!

Happy Thursday to you and welcome to our next challenge over at Time Out :)  We are back to a fabulous photo inspiration:

There are so many lovely elements to this photo - the stripes, colours and gorgeous bold florals!  Here is what I came up with:

I used a Papertrey Ink floral stamp set in similar colours to the mural and combined it with some stripy paper from Avery Elle which echoes the bedspread.  The touches of black are intended to reflect the dark furniture in the photo. 

For this challenge we have the talented Joyce from Cards By The Sea.  I am a huge fan of Joyce's CAS style and love seeing the weekly inspiration that she provides for us over at CASology.  Her blog is a wonderful place to visit :) The rest of the fab Time Out DT also have great inspiration for you to get started with this challenge - it is always fascinating to see how everyone creates something different based on the same image!  I look forward to seeing what you create too....

I will also link up at the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon's Wednesday Challenge.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by.  I do appreciate your visits and comments :)

Sarah x

Blooming Tag

Hello!

Just a quick post with a second tag card for Less Is More.  I recently made a number of tags while playing with my new Minc so I have a range of foiled sentiment tags :)  It is lots of fun....I just need to buy more foil!

 

I white embossed two of the beautiful blooms from Uniko on to vellum and coloured behind with a promarker.  I used Uniko's lattice stamp on the card base in Memento's Teal Zeal and added a few die cut leaves from Papertrey Ink.  The sentiment is from Pink Petticoat printed on a laser printer and foiled in teal.

I will also link up at Simon's Wednesday Challenge - Clean and Simple.

I hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah x

No Mojo Sunday

Hello!

I hope you have had a great weekend.  I had been looking forward to spending some time in my craft room all week and when I finally found time to play Mr Mojo had decided to take the day off :(  There are a couple of projects that I need to get on with but I decided to just have a dabble instead and see what I could come up with for some of my favourite challenges. 

First up is a card I made with a stencil and a butterfly that I die cut from a scrap of card:

 

 

I masked a panel on the card base and inked through the stencil from Create A Smile with Dusty Concord, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean Distress Inks.  I stamped a few sequins from Winnie and Walter and a sentiment from Mama Elephant.

 

I will link up at Happy Little Stampers April Challenge to use stencils and at Simon Wednesday's Challenge which is CAS along with the Anything Goes challenge at Addicted to Stamps.

 

Secondly I made a card inspired by one of my favourite colour scheme which Barb has set at Addicted to CAS - Black, White and Gold.

 

 

I inked through a stencil with Black Soot going from dark to light.  The tag is die cut from Reverse Confetti and the die cut word is from Lil Inkers. 

 

I will also link up at CASology's current challenge which is ombre and at Less Is More where the challenge is to use a tag on our cards.

 

Anyways, I hope that Mr Mojo comes back again soon :) 

 

Thanks for your visit!

 

Sarah x

a2z Scrapbooking Birthday Blog Hop!

Hello!

Welcome to my stop on the birthday blog hop for a2z Scrapbooking!  You should have arrived here from the lovely Sandra's blog but if this is your first stop you'll want to begin at a2z Scrapbooking blog so you don't miss out on any of the fun and beautiful creations we are sharing today.

I'll get straight to my card:

 

I have used the beautiful butterfly from Hero Arts Butterfly and Flower set for this card and coloured it in a rainbow of colours using my Chameleon Pens.  I added a touch of Wink of Stella to the inner wings.  I added the happy die cut on a vellum panel.

Now hop on over to the fabulous Stephanie's blog to see what she has made - it is sure to be gorgeous.

Remember if you comment on every blog in the hop you will be in with a chance of winning a $25 voucher for the a2z store.  The hop is open to Sunday 26th April at 11.59 pm est.

Given it is a birthday hop I also have a bit of blog candy to giveaway from all the comments left here :)

 

I am also linking up at Simon Wednesday's Clean and Simple Challenge and at Addicted to Stamps Anything Goes.  This is also my final entry at Less is More's Up, Up and Away Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah x

Uniko Reminder

Hello!

Have you had time to play along with our challenge over at Uniko Studio yet?  There is still time left and the theme is Things with Wings.  So many possibilities!

I stamped the beautiful large butterfly from English Country Garden Butterflies with my new Hero Arts ombre ink pad.  I popped the sentiment from the set up on navy cardstock and added a sprinkle of sequins.

You have until 1 May to link up at the challenge.  You don't have to use Uniko stamps to play along although we love to see your Uniko creations.  There are prizes too!

 

 

The DT will choose a winner who will get a £20 Gift Voucher for Uniko Studios plus be invited to be a Guest Designer for our next challenge.

 

-Our DT will also choose a top 3 and all will get  £5 gift voucher.

 

-If you do use a Uniko stamp we will do a random selected prize to win a £10 gift voucher.

Guest Designers are still welcome to join in on the current challenge too.

 

Check out the inspiration from the rest of the fab DT including our wonderful Guest Designers, Elaine from Craft-E-Place and Michelle from Amusing Michelle.

I will also link up at CASology's challenge this week where the cue card is Ombre, at Simon's Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Clean and Simple and for a second time at Less Is More where we are Up, Up and Away.

 

Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

 

Sarah x

Time Out Reminder

Hello!

I'm back again already with a reminder for the current challenge over at Time Out which is word inspiration:

You can't make a rainbow without a little rain
 

Here is my second card:

 

I used a fab stencil from Stamplorations for the raindrops which I created with texture paste mixed with gelatos.  It gives nice variegated colour and texture.  The central panel is paired with an Avery Elle umbrella stamp and sentiment.  I watercoloured the brolly with distress inks and added Wink of Stella. 

 

I hope you like the rainbow brolly and rainy background! 

 

There is a lot of mid challenge inspiration for you from the DT and our lovely GD, Michele from Crimson Owl Creations.  You still have a week to play along with us - I hope you have the chance to take Time Out :)

 

I will also link up at Addicted to CAS where the code word is Showers.

 

See you again soon,

 

Sarah x

Up Up and Away

Hello!

I hope you have had a good start to the week :)  Just a quick post from me with a card inspired by the current challenge at Less Is More - Up, up and away.  I was flicking through my stamps looking for a balloon image when this beautiful stamp from Clarity caught my eye:

 

I masked off a panel and inked up with a range of Distress Inks before stamping the butterfly tree in black.  I finished with a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp.

My layout was inspired by the current sketch over at CASE this Sketch:

I hope you like it!  Thanks for stopping by :)

Sarah x

Spring Colours

Hello!

I have been trying to catch up on my crafting this weekend but it has taken me longer than I anticipated!  I have managed to get a few spring cards made inspired by the colour combo set at Simon Says Flickr Challenge.

 

I have used the Simon Says Flowers of Whimsy stamp set and stamped it in soft colours in the background topped off with a Simon Says stitched circle die and a sentiment from SSS Birthday.

I will also link up at Simon's Wednesday Challenge Blog to create your own background.

I made a slightly more CAS design using the same stamps and colours:

I will link this one up at AAA cards where the theme is springtime.

The boys are back to school tomorrow after Easter break so we are just bracing ourselves for getting back in to the work, school, sleep routine :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sarah x

Uniko Challenge #20

Hello!

It is time for our next challenge over at Uniko and it is sure to be a popular one!  The theme is Things with Wings.  I love my Uniko butterflies so this was an easy choice:

 

I stamped the butterflies from Bright Butterflies in vibrant colours and then toned them down slightly by adding a layer of vellum over the top.  I hand stitched the corners with yellow thread to attach the vellum and add a bit of interest.  I stamped the sentiment from Uniko's Fontiments set - this is my regular go to for sentiments.  I inked around the edges of the base layer to ensure it matched the butterflies.

The softening effect of the vellum keeps this design fresh and light.

I hope you like it!

You can enter this challenge as many times as you like and using any stamps....although we love to see what you make with Uniko stamps :)

Check out the other great designs by the Uniko DT.  We are joined by the super talented Elaine from Craft-E-Place and Michelle from Amusing Michelle as Guest Designers this month - they are both amazing card makers but you probably already know that!

I will also enter this card in Virginia's View Challenge as it has several layers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sarah x


  

A2Z Scrapbooking

Hello!

Just a quickie to let you know that I am over at A2Z Scrapbooking today with a card featuring stencilling and watercolours.  I hope you will head over to see what I made!

See you again soon,

Sarah x

Time Out Challenge #29

Hello!

We are back with our next challenge at Time Out and it is a word inspiration:

You can't make a rainbow without a little rain

You can make a card inspired by any part of the phrase or the whole phrase.  Here is what I came up with:

When I saw this phrase I immediately thought of this stamp by Mama Elephant and combined it with dies from WPlus9.  All of the weather elements with the stitched detail are lots of fun.  I cut the rainbow banner out of patterned paper and popped it up.  Simple but bright and cheerful :)

 

I hope you will check out what the rest of the DT have created with this word inspiration including our Guest Designer, Michele Henderson from Crimson Owl Creations - her blog is so worth a visit!

 

I look forward to seeing how you are inspired.  I hope you will take Time Out to play along with us.

 

Thanks for stopping by :)

 

Sarah x 

Donut Know

Hello!

Things have been a bit quiet here on the blog over the past week or so....I have been away for Easter break with the boys to visit their grandparents in Spain.  We had a lovely time - it was great to get some fresh air and a break. The weather was quite cool but the boys enjoyed playing football and tennis on the quiet beaches.  We usually go in the hot summer months when the resorts are very busy so it was a pleasant change to be able to wander around when it was so much quieter!

  

 

 

 

Anyways, I have really popped by to share a card that I have made for this week's CASology where the cue card is Sweet.  I love a good donut and this prompt had me reaching for my Reverse Confetti stamps and dies:

 

 

 

 

I glazed my donut with glossy accents and dropped the die cut sprinkles in to the accents.  The edges of the donut are inked with a bit of distress ink to give that baked look!  I love the punny sentiments with this set....any sentiment with donut in it works for me :)  Finally I sprinkled a few of the mini sprinkles around the donut because they are so cute. 

 

I hope you like it :)  Normal blog service will be resumed shortly....

 

Thanks for stopping by,

 

Sarah x

 

Uniko Revisit

Hello!

We are revisiting some fabulous Uniko stamp sets this month: Paradise Hummingbird, English Country Garden Butterflies and Bright Butterflies.  I made a few cards:

I smooshed some watercolour card with Peacock Feathers, Dusty Concord and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks for both cards.  I white embossed the beautiful Country Garden Butterfly on vellum and coloured on the back with pro markers.  The trail behind the butterfly is made using a dotty stencil.  The distress inks looked a bit strong against the watercolour background so I slightly offset and went back over them with white pigment ink.  On the second card I inked up the hummingbird with distress inks and spritzed with water.

I hope you like the soft blues and purples and head over to Uniko to see what my fab teamies have created with these beautiful stamps.  Comments along the way will be entered to win one of these sets or a Uniko gift certificate.

     

Thanks for stopping by :)

Sarah x

Time Out Reminder

Hello!

It is time to remind you that we are halfway through Time Out Challenge #28 already!  The challenge this time is to CASE this fabulous inspiration card by Kim Makartoff from Art Keeps Me Sane and add your own twist.  Even better, there is a £20 gift voucher from Clearly Besotted for the winner :)

 

I went all fresh and springy last week but this week I decided to go with the dramatic black base like Kim's:

 

 

 

 

My twist is that I flipped the design so that the flower was in the bottom corner.  The flower from Clearly Besotted's Sketch Blooms is gold embossed and combined with a sentiment from Brushed Poppies.  It is a very simple design but gold embossing always adds a touch of luxury!  The central panel is popped up over a base panel in black.  I wouldn't have thought of combining black and black until I saw Kim's design.

 

We are joined by a fab GD for this challenge - Claire from Life on the Scrap Heap - her blog is full of inspiration!  The rest of the DT have lots of great CASEs to share with you too over at Time Out.

I will also link up at this week's Less Is More Challenge which is predominantly black.  Hopefully my black card base qualifies :)

 

Thanks for stopping by :)

 

Sarah x

 

 

Flowery Birthday!

Hello!

I hope you have been having a good Easter weekend :)  My next week is pretty tied up with easter holiday time with the boys so I am getting a quick card in while I have the chance!

 

I stamped Altenew's Painted Flowers in a few shades of purple across the top third of the card and popped up the sentiment from Label Love.

I will link up at Simon Wednesday's Challenge which is Birthdays and at Seize the Birthday's Anything Goes Challenge.  I will also join up at CASology's Spring Challenge for a second time.

Right, that's me challenged out for a few days.  See you when I next get chance to create something!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Sarah x

Light It Up Blue For Autism Awareness Blog Hop

Hello!

I am really pleased to be joining in the Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness blog hop organised by the lovely Veronica Zallis and Tenia Nelson.  These inspirational ladies have got us all crafting to promote Autism Awareness and there are lots of fabulous crafters and sponsors involved :) 

It is great to see the crafting community light it up blue for all those whose lives have been touched by autism.  I hope Veronica and Tenia won't mind me saying that I have become more aware of autism through the Facebook posts they have shared about their wonderful boys.  There are undoubtedly challenges - often caused by the ignorance or insensitivity of others - but my overriding impression is one of joy, love and fun which is definitely something to be celebrated :)

If you would like a chance to win a prize from one of the fabulous companies sponsoring the hop leave a comment on this blog or any of the other participating blogs.  Full details of the sponsors and links to participating blogs can be found here.  Winners will be chosen at random and announced on Monday, 6 April.

Here is what I came up with:

 

I thought the gorgeous Mama Elephant Bear Hugs stamps would look great in blue.  I stamped it in Chipped Sapphire and watercoloured with distress inks.  A few splatters and a watercoloured moon finish the design.

 

Thanks to both Veronica and Tenia for all of their hard work! I am looking forward to hopping around all of the fabulous blogs.

 

I hope you have fun hopping along :)

 

Sarah x

 

Time Out #28

Hello!

Here we are again at the beginning of another Time Out challenge!  This time it is the CASE with a twist challenge and we have an amazing inspiration card from the lovely Kim Markatoff from Art Keeps Me Sane for you to work with:

I have to admit that I love these CASE challenges - it is great to use other peoples' fab designs as a jumping off point for a card.  I am sure that I am not the only one who wanders around blogland and Pinterest looking for inspiration.....

I love the drama of Kim's card - the black base and masked flowers look so elegant with those jewel like colours.  My CASE looks like this:

 

I went with a very similar layout - a panel popped up with masked flowers round the edge but my twist is that I used a white background to create a more springlike look.  The flower stamps are by Clearly Besotted and the sentiment is by Hero Arts.  I coloured the flowers in with my Spectrum Noir pencils.

This is an extra special challenge as it is sponsored by the fabulous Clearly Besotted with a £20 gift voucher for the challenge winner!  That's got to be better than easter eggs :)

We are joined by the super talented Claire from Life on the Scrap Heap as our GD this week - her cards are stunning and her blog is so worth a visit.  The rest of the fabulous DT have lots more inspiration for you over at Time Out.

I hope you take some Time Out this Easter to play along with us.

I meant to link up at CASology where the cue card is Spring but forgot to do it....as there is still time I am putting a cheeky link in :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Sarah x

Cheeky Chick

Hello!

My second GD post was over at Create A Smile today with two spring themed cards.  Here is one of them using the sweet chick from Eggstraordinary Egghunt:

 

I embossed the background with a stencil from Simon Says and inked over it in Tumbled Glass.  The two stitched circles are die cut from Simon Says and I watercoloured the quirky chick.  I don't often use spring pastels but I think they do suit this cute character!

 

I will link up at Simon Says Flickr Challenge #15 which is a springtime/easter theme and at AAA Cards Easter Colours Challenge.  I will also link up at Virginia's View latest challenge - layers as this card has 4/5 layers so I think it qualifies!  It is open until 18 May so there is loads of time to play along.

  

Thanks for stopping by :)

 

Sarah x