Smooshing with friends

I found a bit of time this afternoon to do some crafting so I could enter a couple of challenges before the deadlines. I try to enter the One Layer card challenge at Less is More as I find that one really makes me think outside the box. I combined it with the 'swooshing' challenge at Just Us Girls & the cue card of 'Pink' at CASology. Here's what I came up with ...

I rubbed an ink pad onto a craft sheet then spritzed it with water. I then laid a square card blank front over the top of it to get the 'swooshed' effect across the card. The hexagon pattern was then stamped across the top in the same colour. I stamped the 'Friend' sentiment in a different colour; overstamped with a versamark inkpad & embossed with clear embossing powder to make it stand out.

This wasn't my first attempt, my creative journey went something like this ...

This was my first attempt, but I thought it looked too busy, so I gave up with that one & came up with this ...

I still wasn't happy with that one, the 2 patterns seemed to jar with each other. So eventually it was third time lucky! Does anyone else have these trial & error moments?!

The geometric stamps were a free gift in a magazine ...

Thanks for popping by & take care.

Tam x

Supplies:

Docrafts Papermania 'Capsule Geometric Mono' stamps - free in a magazine

CB 'Sugar & spice' sentiment stamps

Altenew Crisp inks 'Red Cosmos' set

Versamark ink pad

Clear embossing powder

Challenge inspiration:

Less is More: ONE LAYER CARD 

challenge!  Geometric Shapes or Patterns

Just Us Girls:

CASology: 

Without the rain there'd be no rainbow

I've had a little break from crafting for the last week or so ...I had a steroid injection in my wrist which was a tad painful & also put it out of action for a day or 2. I then caught a rotten cough & cold so I've been feeling a little meh lately! I'm not one to moan though & I won't let anything keep me down for long! Which brings me nicely onto the sentiment of this card; always see the positive ...

I do like to join in with the challenges in blogland, so I've combined 3 of them to come up with this card. The rainbow is a die cut. You do need to die cut 6 times from 6 different coloured cardstock but it didn't take very long. I masked off a panel then stamped with 1st, 2nd & 3rd generation stamping (where you don't re-ink your stamp before stamping again). I emphasised the panel by scoring a line top & bottom. I wanted the raindrops to glisten so I added glossy accents to them all.

Thank you for popping by & take care.

Tam x

Supplies
Paper Smooches 'Rainbow' die
CBS 'April Showers Additions' stamps
Glossy accents
SU cardstock

Challenge Inspiration
Less is More: A colour challenge ... White space but not  WHITE
Just Us Girls: Word Week ... Raindrops

CAS(E) this Sketch!:

A friend like you

It's one layer week at Less is More & I often find this challenge a challenge!  The challenge is to make the sentiment the main focus of the card. I haven't inked up these honeycomb stamps from Clearly Besotted for a while & thought these would make a nice background. I was tempted to go for pink,green & then yellow or purple as the third colour, but decided to use this lovely bright, but pastel blue instead. I quite like the card I have come up with this time ...

Thanks for popping by & take care.

Tam x

Supplies
CBS 'Honeycomb' stamps
Mama Elephant 'Friend Indeed' stamps
Ink pads - VersaMagic: pixie dust, sage, sea breeze; Memento: london fog; Versafine: onyx black

Inspiration
Less is More -  one layer cards where the sentiment is the focus of the card

Suits you sir!

I always find male cards the most difficult to make. I picked up 2 paper pads at a craft show in Birmingham recently which are perfect for male cards. I used one of them to make my nephew's birthday card ...

Thank you for popping by my blog. I hope you have a lovely weekend. I'm off to a crafting afternoon at a friend's house tomorrow where she is going to show us how to do book folding. The ones I have seen of my friend's & on Pinterest look fab so fingers crossed!

Take care.

Tam x

Supplies
CC 'Suits you Sir!' paper pad
Paper Smooches 'Incognito' stamp (moustache)
CBS 'Basic Banners' stamps (Happy birthday sentiment)
MFT Die-namics 'Tag you're it' die
MFT Die-namiccs 'Sentiment Strips' die
Divine twine

Inspiration
Sketch Saturday:

From all of us

Clearly Besotted has a fab release of goodies this month. My order arrived very quickly as always on Monday & I've had a quick play with one stamp set this afternoon. Here's what I came up with ...

I stamped the row of poppies stamp 3 times, the first time in orange, then I masked it & stamped either side in yellow. A couple of strips of card at the bottom emphasized the colours & I finished off by rounding the corners with my corner chomper & adding a couple of candy dots. I have a lot of these but I'm never sure how to place them on my card so that they don't look like they've just landed!

Thanks for popping by & take care.

Tam x

Supplies
SU cardstock & inks: old olive, daffodil delight, tangerine tango
CBS 'From all of us' stamps
SU candy dots - brights

Inspiration
Less is More: Colour week - Citrus
Just Us Girls: Word week - Flowers

Hip hip hooray!

A year ago my sister had a hip replacement so I wanted to make her a happy 1st birthday 'hip' card :)
Inspired by a couple of blog challenges, this is what I came up with ...

Thank you for all the lovely comments I've received on my last few blog posts - they're really appreciated. I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Take care.

Tam x

Supplies
Letters: CBS 'Basic numbers' stamps; Craftwork Cards Candi 'Alphabet' stamps
Balloon: CBS 'Make a wish' stamps & dies
Cuttlebug dots embossing folder
SU Sizzlits 'Lots of tags' die (pack of 4)
Red wire from craft stash
SU inks: pacific point, tempting turquoise, real red

Inspiration
Less is More: Include some wire
Sketch Saturday:

CASology: the cue card this week is 'SPIN' ... the wire on my card is 'spinning'??!! ... yes ok, I may be stretching this one a bit! :)

And even more 'Chloe'!

Anyone would think that I really love this die!!

I really liked the design of the card in yesterday's blog post, so I've used it again here, just tweaking it slightly. I embossed the top part of the card blank with white embossing paste using a Tim Holtz stencil. With another piece of cardstock I die cut a stitched rectangle & out of that a stitched circle, mounting it on the card base with 3D pads. A stamped sentiment & 2 die cut Chloe stems finish it off.

I entered a card on my blog the other day, here, into this week's 'Less is More' challenge but there wasn't really enough 'white space' on it to be classed as CAS. I think this one might be ok so I'm trying again!

Thanks for popping by & take care.

Tam x

Supplies
Memory Box 'Chloe stem' die
Lil' Inkers Stitched mat rectangles & circles dies
Tim Holtz Brick stencil
Sentiment - CBS Fabulous Fuschias
Ink/Cardstock - SU pear pizazz, blushing bride, night of navy
White cardstock - Craftwork Cards

Challenge inspiration
Less Is More - Add some texture
Pals Paper Arts - colour challenge:

Memory Box - Tickled Pink: pink cards

Cute Card Thursday - Florals

More 'Chloe' love

Here's another card using the Chloe die ...

A more clean & simple design this time, which I think makes the die really stand out.
Apologies for the photo ... I took it in the evening when the light wasn't very good. One of my aims in the next couple of months is to practice taking better photos!
I'm entering this card in the Just Us Girls challenge again, where it's colour week & they're looking for cards using teal, aqua & navy.

Thanks for popping by & take care.

Tam x

Supplies
Memory Box 'Chloe stem' die
CBS 'All Occasion Sentiments' stamp
Craftwork Cards 'Venetian' paper pad
Lil' Inkers 'Stitched circle' die

Challenges entered

Just Us Girls:

Berry precious sister

Hello, I hope you're enjoying the summer. Here in the UK it's the school holidays so I'm enjoying some quality time with my kiddywinks while I can .. they're at that age now where they'd either be with their friends or on games/tablets/phones! I dragged them out kicking & screaming today to a local farm shop where we had a saunter round the farm & lakes &  even did the Minions hunt. You're never too old for the Minions :) I think they secretly enjoyed it.

Anyway, onto crafting. It was my sister's birthday a couple of weeks ago & this is what I came up with:

My sister means to the world to me & I don't know what I'd do without her. So this card fits nicely into this week's challenge at CASology where the cue card is "Precious". My sister is certainly precious to me! The card also fits nicely into the Less is More colour challenge this week which is to use Berry Shades.

Thanks for popping by & take care. Enjoy your weekend.

Tam x

Supplies:

CBS Fabulous Fuschias stamps & die

Happy bday sentiment  - CBS Fabulous Fuschias stamp set

Sister sentiment – CBS  You & I

SU Edgelits-Adorning Accents die

Ink pads – SU garden green & real red & elegant eggplant

Cardstock – SU Elegant eggplant & real red & CC white

Challenges:


Less is More
So the start of a new month means it's Colour week
and we've chosen Berry Shades

You nerd!

Recently it was mine & my husband's wedding anniversary. I was inspired by the one layer card week at Less is More where the challenge was to make a masculine card. Unfortunately our anniversary was after the challenge deadline so I couldn't join in. I was also inspired by Addicted to CAS where the code word this week is 'Chevron'. My husband is a bit of a computer nerd so I thought this quite suited him ...

I'm also entering this card at CASology where the cue card this week is 'Line'.

I was quite excited to see that 2 of my recent cards have been challenge winners! :)
My 'Home is where the heart is card here  was a weekly winner at CAS colours & sketches.
And the cute hamster card, 'I wheelie like you' here was a challenge favourite at Tag You're it
It's great to know that people like my cards & once again, thank you for all your lovely comments.

Supplies:
Paper Smooched 'Incognito' stamp set - glasses, eyes, eyebrows; lips & 'you nerd' stamped in SU Real Red
Clearly Besotted 'Basic Chevrons' stamp set - chevron stamped 3 times in Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise
Hot off the Press dotted line stamp
Sentiments: Happy Anniversary from CBS 'Framed Sentiments', Hubby from CBS 'Many Mini Messages'

Inspiration



Thanks for popping by & take care.

Tam x

Home is where the heart is

Popping back for a quick blog post, I know, twice in one day!
I wanted to enter the one layer card challenge at Less is More this week where the theme is 'Home'. Once again, I've combined it with another challenge which is a colour challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches, where the colours are yellow, green & grey.

Forgive the photo quality, as I said this is a quick post!

I used a Stampin' Up embossing folder to create a bit of texture & dimension with the oval frame. The house & sentiment are from Clearly Besotted 'Home Sweet Home' stamp set. The ink pads are Stampin' Up Basic Gray, Garden Green & More Mustard.

EDITED:
Tonilea, your comment below about the bent card stock & placement of the embossing folder; I too dented my cardsstock on the first attempt:

I put the embossing folder over the top of the front of my 10cm by 15cm card base & then secured it on the reverse with washi tape:

Normally to emboss a single sheet of cardstock with a Cuttlebug you  would use an 'A' plate & 2 'B' plates'.I sandwiched the card & embossing folder between an 'A' plate & 'C' plate & ran it through my Cuttlebug.  I found this out through trial & error using different plate combinations! It maybe that you have to try a few different combinations of plates & shims if you have another die cutting machine. I hope this helps. Good luck Tonilea, I'd love to know how you get on!

Thanks for popping by & take care!

Tam x

Challenges:

One Layer Card week

and the theme is 

Home

Father's Day

Good afternoon! Here in the UK it's Father's Day this Sunday. I saw the sketch at Mojo Monday card sketch challenge & thought it could easily be used for feminine or masculine cards. I combined it with Trend week at Just Us Girls where the challenge is to use stacked die cut sentiments.

I used my Spellbinders circle dies to die cut 3 circles from some old Craftwork Cards papers & matching ribbon I found, crumbs I must have had them for 5, maybe getting on for 10 years! Does anyone else hold on to the last scraps of papers 'just in case' or is it just me?!
I ran a strip of navy card stock through my Xyron Sticker Maker before die cutting the word 'dad' out of it 3 times with Clearly Besotted 'Dad' word die. Once the word has been die cut, it's quite small & fiddly to apply adhesive to so I found this method made it much easier! The 3 words were then stacked on top of each other & adhered to the smallest circle. To finish off the card I stamped the sentiment using Clearly Besotted 'All Occasion Sentiments'.

I hope you like it & would love to hear your comments. Finfgers crossed that my Dad likes it. And hope he doesn't look at my blog before Sunday!

Thank you for popping by, take care.

Tam x

Challenges:

Teacher tag

The current Tag You're It Challenge #23 is to create a tag inspired by this tag ...



Here's mine:

I like the vibrancy of the red apple in the inspiration, which made me think straight away of 'an apple for the teacher'. I used Clearly Besotted's stamp set 'Teacher's Pet' to stamp the apple, leaves & sentiment, die cutting the apple with the matching apple die. The inks are Stampin' Up Real Red & Wild Wasabi. I like the cute peg & managed to find just one red one in my stash! The tag was die cut from an MFT 'Tag You're It' die from Craftwork Cards white card stock. I echoed the fishtail shape of the bottom of the inspiration tag in my sentiment banner & also the chevron arrow stamp, which was free in a magazine.

I then made the tag into a card:

I hope you like my take on the inspiration tag. Thanks for popping by. Take care.

Tam x

Sunset

Hello again ... yes I'm back 2 days in a row!

I wanted to enter the challenge at Less is More this week which ends tonight! It's a colour challenge this week ''Sunset'', using colours that this word brings to mind.
I've combined it with the challenge at Addicted to CAS which uses the code word "Butterfly" & also the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.

I used Tim Holtz distress inks in mustard seed, spiced marmalade & fired brick blended together on glossy white card to make the background which I then trimmed into 4 squares. The butterfly was stamped in Versafine onyx black ink & die cut using Clearly Besotted "Butterfly Wishes" stamps & dies.The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

Thanks for popping by & hope you have a lovely weekend.

Tam x

Challenges:

Less is More: For our Colour Challenge this week 

we have chosen

SUNSET