Gardenias & Roses

Today's card features an Inkadinkado stamp that I received for Easter. It doesn't have a name, but I believe that the flowers in the buckets are gardenias and roses. I stamped it onto watercolour paper, along with a sentiment from the 'Go To Words' set by Visible Image, then coloured it using watercolour pencils. I matted it on to a snippet of lilac card, distressing all of the edges first, then added it to a white card blank.

Challenges for this card:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Everybody Art - New (The Stamp is new)
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Blooming Blooms
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Make It Girly

Bookmarks

I have a couple of bookmarks to share today, made from snippets of kraft card to go with some books I've got for my Dad for Father's Day. The first one features a Penny Black chicken stamp from the '12 Days of Christmas' set...he's representing the 'Three French Hens'. I started by stamping the chicken, colouring him using watercolour pencils, then I made a mask so that I could stamp the background over the top. I first stamped a script background stamp called 'Wine Names' by Inkadinkado in a grey ink, then heat embossed a 'Chicken Wire' background stamp (by Darkroom Door) over the top in metallic silver over the top.

The second one accompanies a book on fishing, so I used some Hambo digital stamps, called 'Fish Trio' for that one. I coloured the fish using watercolour pencils, carefully cut them out, then added them to the bookmark.

Challenges for these bookmarks:

• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Fur or Feathers (Just the chicken one!)

Embossed Noel

I have a cpair of simple Christmas cards to share today...made using a new 'Noel' stamp from Inkadinkado'. I stamped it on to snippets of red and green card using Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it using metallic gold embossing powder from WOW. I matted the embossed panels on to snippets of gold mirror card, then added them to some cream card balnks.

Challenges for these cards:

• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Dream Valley - Add a Sentiment
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets

Floral Sympathy

I have a couple of simple one layer sympathy cards to share today, inspired by the recent charity shop purchase of a sentiment stamp (by Inkadinkado). I used a couple of old Hero Arts floral stamps ('Blooming Meadow' and 'Garde Bouquet'), stamping them directly on to white card blanks using a deep navy ink (Versafine 'Twilight'). I stamped the sentiment (minus a little flower on the stamp) in the same ink, then added a little butterfly (from the 'Anytime Messages' set also by Hero Arts), stamped in Versamark Ink, then embossed with WOW 'Metallic Gold Rich' embossing powder.

Here's a closer look at each of the cards...this one features the 'Garden Bouquet' stamp:

And this one has 'Blooming Meadows' stamped a couple of times:

Challenges for these cards:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
• Creatalicious - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes

Doodle Flowers

Today's card features some of the stamps from the 'Doodle Flowers' set by Inkadinkado. I stamped them on to a kraft card blank using a white pigment ink, then coloured them using watercolour pencils. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Doodled Flowers' set by Happy Little Stampers.

Challenges for this card:

• Allsorts - Anything Goes
• Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
• Flower Challenge - Clean & Simple
• Less is More - Pale Blue & Yellow

Party Balloons Twofer

I have a couple of cards to share today inspired by this month's Twofer Challenge, where the theme is 'Balloons'. I chose to use one of my 'Party Balloons' dies by Die-namics on my two cards.

On my first card I cut the balloon from a snippet of matte gold card, turned it upside down, and used it as a vase for one of the Inkadinkado 'Doodle Flowers' stamps. I stamped the rose on to watercolour card, coloured it using watercolour pencils, then added the 'vase' over the top of the flower stem using 3D foam pads. I doodled a simple border using a black gel pen, then stamped a sentiment (from the Happy Little Stampers 'Doodled Flowers' set), before adding the panel to a matching pink card blank.

On my second card, I used the balloon in a more conventional way...cutting it this time from a snippet of paper from the My Mind's Eye 'Pretty Please' pad. I started by stamping the kitty (from the 'Be Very Scared' set by Penny Black) on to a sky blue card blank...masking off the 'pumpkin balloon' before inking, so that I could replace it with the die cut one, then coloured him using watercolour pencils. I cut a few clouds using my Memory Box 'Puffy Clouds' dies, then added those and the balloon to the card using 3D foam pads in varying thicknesses. The sentiment stamp is from another Penny Black set called 'Airborne'.

Challenges for these cards:

• Dream Valley - Hand Coloured Image
• Fab 'N' Funky - Birthdays (Just the first card)
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Twofer - Balloons
• We Love Chocolate Baroque - Flowers, Butterflies or Birds (Just the first card)

Doodle Flowers

I have a simple one layer card to share today, featuring a set of stamps that I think I must have bought over 10 years ago, but haven't seen a lot of ink in all that time...they're called 'Doodle Flowers' by Inkadinkado. I stamped them on to kraft card using 'Smokey Gray' Versafine Ink...to make them look like they'd been doodled using a pencil. I stamped a sentiment from the 'Thoughtful Messages' set by Hero Arts in the same grey ink, then used my watercolour pencils to colour the flowers. I didn't use any water on the colouring as I wanted the colours to remain quite vibrant, but added some white accents with a gel pen.

Challenges for this card:

• CAS on Friday - One Layer Wonder
• Cute Card Thursday - Bright Colours
• Inkspirational - Oldie but a Goodie
• My Time to Craft - Krafty

Pile It On! Challenge - Quote/Lyric/Saying

We have another fun Pile It On! Challenge starting today...and we're challenging you to be inspired by a:

'Quote/Lyric/Saying'

There's a rather special prize for this challenge...a $30 donation to a charity of the winner's choice!

I had a rummage through all of my sentiment stamps and found a set of 'Kid's Quotes' sayings by Inkadinkado...and picked two of them to use on a couple of cards. Inspired by the colour/rainbow themes of the stamps, I created a watercolour rainbow background using washes of Distress Inks (Fired Brick, Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Lucky Clover, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire & Wilted Violet) on wet watercolour paper. I used two layers...allowing the first to dry before adding the second, then once the second was dry, I splattered water over the top, allowed it to sit for a minute, before patting off the excess using a paper towel, which removed some of the pigment, and creating some texture. I trimmed the panel down, to created two strips, then stamped the quote stamps in the centres using black ink. I added some faux stitching using my CutterBee Bug and a black gel pen.

Here are some close-ups of the two cards:

Here are the challenges I've piled on:

• Pile It On! - Quote/Lyric/Saying
• Come & Get It - No Design Paper
• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
• Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
• Creative Playground - Anything Goes
• Daring Cardmakers - Stitch It!
• Happy Little Stampers (Watercolour) - Anything Goes
• Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Pile It On! Challenge.

Flurry of Flowers

I have another flowery card to share today...using stamps from the 'Doodle Flowers' set by Inkadinkado. I simply stamped the flowers across my card blank, coloured them using watercolour pencils, then added a Hero Arts sentiment.

Challenges for this card:

• Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
• Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
• Less is More - Berry Shades
• Penny Black & More - Summer Flowers
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes

Pile It On! Challenge - Funny Birthday

Yes...I am still alive! I haven't blogged for a few days because I've been snowed under with work...I spent far too much time over the Christmas holidays crafting, so I've been chasing my tail this last week or so trying to get all of the music arranged for this term's concerts, whilst suffering from some kind of cold/virus which seems to present a new symptom every couple of days! Anyway...I'm getting there, and have a card to show you today for the new challenge over at Pile It On! where our theme is:

'Funny Birthday'

Our sponsor this week is SK Digis:

The prize is a $5 gift certificate to spend in their online store!

I've made a really quick and simple card, using a mini clear stamp set by Inkadinkado called 'Unlisted'. The paper is from the 'Archaic' pad by BasicGrey which I had for years...still got a few scraps left though! The button was from a big bag I got in a charity shop, and is threaded with some Dovecraft twine.

Here are the challenges I've piled on:

• Pile It On! - Funny Birthday
• 2 Sisters - Celebrations
• Allsorts - Dies & Punches (I used Nesties to cut the circles)
• Card Makin' Mamas - Anything Goes
• Challenges4Everybody - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz - Buttons & Bows
• Dream Valley - Anything Goes
• Inky Impressions - Add a Sentiment
• Loves Rubber Stamps - Dies & Punches (I used Nesties to cut the circles)
• Papercrafting Journey - Anything Goes
• Raise the Bar - One (One Paper, One Button, One Bow)
• Shopping Our Stash - Old Buttons
• Simon Says Stamp & Show - Embrace the Old (Everything, except the twine, is at least two years old!)
• Totally Stampalicious - Buttons & Bows

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the Pile It On! Challenge.

Pile It On! Challenge - Funny Bones

*Please click here for my Goodwill Blog Hop post*
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The theme of this week's Pile It On! Challenge is:

'Funny Bones'
(In other words, show some humour in the sentiment on your projects)

We are sponsored by Heart Song Designs for this challenge.

The prize is the winner's choice of 3 digi images from the Heart Songs Designs store.

I took one of the Inkandinkado 'Kid's Quotes' stamps as the starting point for my card...they always make me giggle! Then, whilst searching through my stamps for a suitable image to go with it, I found a sheet of cute froggy stickeroos by Penny Black, and thought that this one with their wide grins was just perfect! The papers are by We R Memory Keepers, from the 'Hippity Hoppity' and '72 and Sunny' pads - the little die cut arrow is from one of those too. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, and I added some co-ordinating pieces of Card Candi.

Here are the challenges I've piled on:

• Pile It On! - Funny Bones
• CES - Favourite Colour Combo
• Crafty Catz - Quote/Sentiment
• Crafty Sentiments - Flowers
• If the shoe fits...scrap it! - Green
• Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
• Pollycraft - Anything Goes
• Top Tip Tuesday - Open Theme

For more inspiration, please check out the fabulous samples by my lovely Pile It On! DT buddies.

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Include a Quote

 The theme for this week's Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge has been chosen by Mel...and she wants to see us:

 'Include a Quote'

Now, this is something I don't very often do...but I do have a set of fab 'Kids Quotes' stamps by Inkadinkado...so I took one of those ('You make me smile all over my face') as my starting point. I picked this image ('Here's Lookin' at You' by Penny Black) because it made me smile, and coloured it with watercolour pencils, adding some Glossy Accents (available here at the Secret Crafter) to the lenses on the glasses. The paper is Classic K 'Margo' by K&Co, the swirl stamp are by Whiff of Joy, and the tag was cut using a Sizzix die.

 

So...where's the quote??? It's on the tag hidden in the pocket behind the image...

 

You can check out the fab creations by my lovely DT buddies on the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge blog.

Age is only a number...

There's a fab sketch for this week's Mojo Monday Challenge...where it's contest time...so I just had to have a go. I've combined it with the themes from some other challenges: A Spoon Full of Sugar's 'One for the boys'; Cards for Men's 'Humour'; Crafty Calendar's 'April Fools'; and Creative Inspirations (Wed) 'Green, Brown & Blue' (although the colours all look a bit grey in the photo! lol). The image is 'Unlisted' by Inkadinkado, and the papers are from the 'Archaic' pad by BasicGrey...I thought that the dinosaurs kind of looked like the lizard! lol

Shopping List Pad & Gift Holder

Here are a couple of 'non-card' creations I've made for birthdays coming up this month.
The first is an altered shopping list pad:


I bought the pack of pads from one of those shops that sell everything...then removed the flimsy cover, and replaced it with some thicker card. I decorated the front with some My Mind's Eye '29th Street Market' papers, and flowers made using stamps from a set called 'Doodle Flowers' by Inkadinkado. I added a strip of adhesive magnetic paper to the back, so that it can be kept on the fridge door...perfect for writing shopping lists!
It's not very exciting...but here's a view of the back:


I'm going to enter this into Stampavie & More's challenge to 'Use some green', the Cupcake Crafts challenge which this week is to 'Make your own flowers' (I hope that my 'stamped' flowers are allowed), and the Quixotic 'Joys of Spring' challenge (I think the greens are quite 'springy'! lol).

My other project is a gift carrier:

I wanted a pretty way to package a couple of aromatherapy bath oils for my friend's birthday...to make up for the fact that I didn't make her present this year! After a bit of blog hopping, I decided to make the kind of carrier which you usually see carrying paper milk cartons. I had to fiddle around to get the dimensions right, as I needed the 'pockets' to be quite deep in order to support the bottles. I decorated the outside using some paper by Crate Paper (from the 'Mia' collection), and added a matching gift tag made using my Nesties.

Check this out!

I'm getting in early (well early for me anyway) with week's Penny Black Challenge...where the theme is 'Check it Out'. I followed the sketch from Inspirational Card Sketches, using 'Birthday Dog' and papers from the 'Archaic' pad by BasicGrey. I distressed all of the edges using inks and my distressing tool...so I'm also going to enter this card into Simon Says Stamp's 'It's so distressing' challenge. The sentiment stamp is by Inkadinkado, the stars were cut using Nesties, and the brads are by Papermania.

Monster Sax!

Having got all my DT stuff done for next week...I've had time to play along with some other challenges this morning. I've used the sketch from Sketch & Stash...although I used a circle rather than an oval, as it suited my image ('Monster Sax' by Hambo stamps) better...which although I've had it for a couple of months...this is the first time I've used it. The papers are by My Mind's Eye ('29th Street Market'), and I used my Cuttlebug 'Moroccan Screen' folder to emboss the green strip, before distressing the edges with inks and my distressing tool. The sentiment stamp is by Inkadinkado, and the ribbon is from Poppicrafts.


The other challenges I'm entering this card for are:

Cards for Men: 'Happy Birthday'
Cupcake Craft: 'Going Green'
Fussy & Fancy Friday: 'Green'
Saturday Spotlight with Hidden Potential: 'Birthday Card in your Birthstone Colour' (Mine's peridot)
Simon Says: 'A Splash of Green'
Stamp Something: 'Distressed Somethings'

Superstar Pringle

This the first card I've uploaded this week using patterned paper...I know...that's not like me at all! lol
I've used the sketch from the Sugarbowl Challenge...and included lots of the requested 'Stars'. There are stars on the papers ('Papa' by Fancy Pants Designs), and some stars cut using Nesties too. The image is 'Pringle', and the sentiment stamp is by Inkadinkado. It's a boy's card, so no extra embellishments...just a bit of inking around the edges.