Recycle It

Hello!

Well I guess that we are now well and truly back in to the routine after the Christmas hols - the boys are (reluctantly) back to school and I am back to de-icing the car and battling through the traffic to get to work.  But, on the bright side, I do have a card to share with you that I have made for the new challenge over at Make The Day Special :)

The challenge this month is to recycle - that can be to use items which you would otherwise throw away or to use a household item to stamp or create with.  Some of the DT have ideas for you over at Make The Day Special blog and there will be more to follow over the next few weeks.  The challenge is open until 10 pm on 26 Jan so you have plenty of time to go through your recycling bins!

Did I mention that our favourite entry gets a £15 voucher to the store?!

Here is what I came up with:

I used some old wrapping paper to die cut the Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle and the leaves from Reverse Confetti's Petals n Posies set.  It looks like real burlap, don't you think?  I also found some leftover felt from one of the boys Christmas school project so die cut two of the Petals n Posies flowers from that.  The Hello die is from Mama Elephant, stacked up several times for a bit of dimension and the 'friend' sentiment is from Winnie and Walter.  I inked around the inside of the rectangle with Antique Linen distress ink for a bit of definition and added a button and bit of twine to finish.  The wrapping paper does need to be adhered to cardstock to use for die cutting.

I hope you like my rustic design!  Head on over to the MTDS blog to see what Tara and Jenny have created - they are very clever.

I will also link up at SSS Wednesday Challenge which is still Anything Goes.

Thanks for stopping by - it brightens my day :)

Sarah x

Eye Test

Hello!

We are all back to the usual routine tomorrow so I couldn't resist the temptation of sneaking off to my craft room to have a bit of a play today!

I wanted to play along with the first Less Is More challenge of 2015 which is a colour challenge to use black + metallic + one other colour.  I wanted to use these fab stamps and dies from MFT which I have had for months and not yet used.

I always need thank you cards in January and thought this was a really fun sentiment :)  The glasses are die cut from silver mirri and the wood veneer heart is coloured red and covered with glossy accents.  I found the background paper in my rarely used collection of 6x6 pads by My Minds Eye.

As the sentiment and die are brand new I will join in again at Darnell's NBUS Challenge....I think that I will use up my 3 goes very quickly :)

I also wanted to take part in Virginia's View new challenge - clean slate.  Given one of my crafty new year resolutions is to try to make more one layer cards, this seemed like the perfect opportunity :)

I have used a lovely Memory Box butterfly die which I cut out of the card and reassembled to create a single layer inlaid effect.  It is very simple but quite a neat look.

I will also join in the fun over at the new (to me) ShowCASe Your Style challenge which I came across through my friend, Nonni's blog.  The current theme is to use at least one die cut

 

And finally I shall link up at SSS Wednesday's Anything Goes Challenge too!

 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have had a great weekend. 

 

Sarah x

Getting Started

Hello!

We have had a slow start to 2015 after our last set of visitors left but I think that I am back in the crafty zone and ready for the next round of challenges!

I have two cards to share today.  First up is a card that I made for CASology last week but have only just got round to posting.  I am finding it a nightmare to take a decent photo at the moment so please bear with me.  The cue card at CASology is Light:

I have used these fab Hero Arts Written in the Stars stamps in a chalkboard style....To add to the chalkboard look I cut a frame from beautiful MME woodgrain papers several times to create dimension around the main image. 

Secondly is a card for the latest SSS Flickr Group Challenge #9 which is to celebrate something new.  I have gone with new baby:

 

I have white embossed the lovely handwritten border sentiment from SSS combined with my new More Stories stamps from Avery Elle.  I already had the first Storybook set and Santa bought me this follow up which I love.  The fox is coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils and the sky is inked with Distress Inks.  The panel is die cut with a Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle.

 

As the card features my brand new stamps I will also join up at the fantabulous Darnell's latest NBUS challenge:

 

 

It would also be rude not to link up to SSS Wednesday's Challenge which is Anything Goes :)

 

That's it from me for today.  I hope your first weekend of 2015 is a good one!

 

Thanks for stopping by,

 

Sarah x

 

 

 

2014 Round Up!

Hello!

The last day of 2014 has finally rolled around.  I have loved my cardmaking this year and started this blog in March.  I wasn't too sure when I started it whether it would be the kind of thing that I would be able to keep up alongside work and family commitments but I have really enjoyed becoming part of this community and have made some lovely blog friends over the past nine months!  In fact I have published 198 blog posts this year and received over 2,300 kind comments - thank you to all who stop by, your encouragement and supportive words mean a huge amount to me :)

I have seen lots of inspiring posts from bloggers who have picked out their favourite cards of the year.  I have enjoyed looking back over my posts this year and have chosen the following selection to share with you.  It was a tough job getting it down to my top 12 and I left out favourite Christmas cards which I posted here!  Apologies for such a photo heavy post.  I hope you stick with me....

My favourite crafty things this year have definitely been stencils.  I have dabbled with watercolouring but not really got bitten by the bug!  I have loved playing in challenges as well which I think have really helped me to develop and try new things.  I have had a great time on the design teams for A Blog Named Hero and Time Out.  My stint at ABNH has come to an end but I am starting the new year on the design team for Make The Day Special - my favourite online store for all of the fabulous American releases so I am looking forward to having lots of fun with Tara and the talented DT!

My crafty new year resolutions are to play along in more sketch challenges (sketches scare me!), make more one layer cards (the fabulous Shery from Stamplorations has a one layer challenge starting in January so that is good timing) and to have a go at mixed media which fascinates me.  I am not sure where to start with it given I have a mainly CAS style but would love to give it a go - I love the texture and richness of mixed media creations that I have seen online.....

I hope that you have a wonderful new year and are looking forward to lots of crafty adventures in 2015.  I look forward to seeing what you get up to and thank you again for supporting me over this past 9 months :)

Bye for now! 

Sarah x

Inkspirational

Hello!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.  Have things calmed down after the festivities or are you still in the middle of family celebrations?  We have our next set of visitors arriving tomorrow so I took the opportunity to get a bit of crafting in today!

I made this card inspired by the photo over at Inkspirational:

I went for a fairly literal interpretation as I loved the cityscape and dramatic purple fireworks.  The cityscape die is from Mama Elephant and is layered up several times.  The sky is blended from distress inks and the fireworks are silver embossed using a discontinued set of stamps from Banana Frog.  The sentiment is from WPlus9.

Here is the inspiration photo:

I will also link up at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge which is Anything Goes.

I hope you like it and are looking forward to a fab new year :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sarah x

My Favourite Christmas Cards of 2014

Hello!

Have you been enjoying your Christmas break?  I have had a little meander around blogland this evening and saw that my friend Nonni has taken part in a fun linky over at the fab Debby Yates blog to share our 5 fave Christmas cards of 2014. 

I have had a look back through my posts and came up with the following:

I loved the rustic Christmas trees that Uniko Studio brought out this year and made a number of cards with them.  These trees white embossed against teal with a few pops of red is the favourite card that I made with them.

A card made using my beloved Hero Arts stamps.  I stamped the wreath several times in different greens and stamped some little flowers in red to look like poinsettias.  A really simple design but I like the depth created by the layered wreath.

I used a stags head stencil to stamp the Nordic border from Waltzingmouse through in red.  A bit of distress ink around the edges provides some definition.  I like the dimension that this gives even thought it is one layer.

This is a really simple one layer card using a beautiful winter scene from Hero Arts.  Lots of lovely white space!

An inky scene created with distress inks.  I like the details that are outside the masked square.

Thank you for bearing with my fave Christmas cards.  I shall be back tomorrow with a new card.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Sarah x

The LAST Christmas cards....

Happy Christmas!

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful festive season with friends and family....

As well as being Christmas Eve, we are almost at the midpoint of our Time Out Challenge to make a card inspired by the phrase:

Christmas is Love with All the Trimmings

Here is the card that I made for my hubby this year which I think combines the love and trimmings aspects of Christmas:

We don't have any mistletoe in the house so I may just have to hold this card over our heads!  The stamps are from Waltzingmouse and the stripes on the red card are from my favourite stencil of the year from SSS.

And here is my final, final Christmas card.  Kraft card, snowflakes and stags seemed to feature on a lot of my cards this year.  This card covers two out of the three:

The snowflake die is from Hero Arts and is inlaid in to the kraft base.  The sentiment is from Altenew.  I will join this card up at CAS on Sunday where the theme is Christmas and also at SSS Wednesday Challenge which is Anything Goes and runs for 2 weeks!

Thank you for all of your visits and kind words over the past 9 months since I started this blog - I wish that I could have sent you each a Christmas card!

Festive hugs,

Sarah x