Book worm & CASE-ing an idea

I recently stumbled across the CASADIA blog by Wida. Wida came up with the idea of starting a card chain by CASE-ing cards, hence the name ... Case + idea = CASADIA. I thought it was a great idea & asked if I could join in! It's now my turn & I was given Karen Baker's card to CASE, which you can see here. I'm very grateful to Wida for letting me join in, thank you!
I love using twine on my cards at the moment, so I had to take that element to CASE from Karen's card. I also liked the splattered background, flower & Kraft cardstock. Using all these elements, I came up with this card ...

I found, through pinterest, a link to a blog that showed how to make these lovely flowers out of twine. This was my first attempt & I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! If you'd like to have a go yourself, a step-by-step guide how to make them can be found on The Bugbytes blog here. Here's a close-up of the flower:

And don't you just love the book worm?! He's from a new stamp release this month from Clearly Besotted. Here's a close-up of him:

I'm going to enter this card in the challenge this week on the Addicted to CAS blog where they are looking for CAS cards using the codeword 'Flower'.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Book Worm & Basic Banners: Clearly Besotted; French Foliage: Stampin' Up
Dies - Basic Banners: Clearly Besotted; Notebook edge: MFT die-namics, Dies to die for
Inks: Promarkers; Memento Tuxedo Black
Twine: Baker's Divine twine: Ribbon Girl

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Spring Blooms - Part 2

A bit later than intended, but that's the joy of the school holidays!
Here, as promised are another couple of cards I made with the Spring Blooms stamp set & dies from Clearly Besotted.

This first card uses the frame idea again. I die cut the jar, stems & daffodils from patterned cardstock & stamped onto the white card base behind. I thought I'd add the strip of washi tape at the bottom to hide the fact that I trimmed my panel too short add something a little different to the card ;) Here's a close-up of the die cut daffodils ...

The daffodils on this second card are on a background stamped to look like quilting ...

I saw this technique in the latest issue of Craft Stamper magazine. Basically, you lay a sheet of acetate diagonally across your cardstock & sponge in circles with your ink. You move the acetate down your cardstock, parallel with your first line, inking as you go. Then you turn your card 90 degrees and repeat.
It's a great way to create a background & I'm going to enter this card in the Make My Monday challenge this week which is to 'Create your own Background' using no patterned paper.

As these are Easter cards, I thought I'd also share with you the Easter tree I put together using various crafty bits ...

And also the Easter gingerbread house that my daughter & I made ...

Supplies used:
Stamps - Spring Blooms:Clearly Besotted
Dies - Spring Blooms: Clearly Besotted, Sentiment Strips: MFT Die Namics
Inks - Wild Wasabi & So Saffron: Stampin' Up, Pro-markers
Other - The Sweetest Thing-Tangerine: My Mind's Eye papers, Washi tape: My Mind's Eye

Thank you for stopping by my blog. If you have the time, I do love reading your comments, so comment away! Take care x

A challenge win & Spring Blooms - Part 1

Well, I am truly amazed & chuffed to bits. My Script inspired card, which you can see in the previous blog post here was chosen as the winner of the Just Us Girls colour challenge last week!! So I'm now proudly sporting the Chic of the Week badge on the side of my blog :)

I've got a bit carried away with the Spring Bloom stamps from Clearly Besotted & have made a few more cards with them.
Those of you who have had the pleasure of receiving some Clearly Besotted stamps in the post will know how beautifully Stephanie packages them. Like many crafters, I don't like throwing things away so I used the tissue paper the stamps were wrapped in to make this tulip bouquet for my Mum's birthday card last week.

I used the tulip stamps & matching die again to make this card, which I'm going to enter in the Addicted to CAS challenge this week where the theme is 'Spring' ...

And here's the last of the Mother's Day cards ...

Finally, I used the same design from the card on the previous post, just changing the orientation, colours & sentiment to make a birthday card for my friend ...

Supplies used:
Stamps: Spring Blooms - Clearly Besotted, Mum typography - Papermania, Script - Hero Arts
Dies: Spring Blooms - Clearly Besotted, Large Scallop Edgelits - Stampin' Up
Inks: Promarkers, Gumball Green/Dafodill Delight/Primrose Petals/Raspberry Ripple - Stampin' Up
Other: Baker's Divine Twine - Ribbon Girls, Oval punch - Stampin' Up, Pretty in Pink dotted DSP - SU

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog, I really appreciate your lovely comments. As you can see by the name of this post, I haven't finished with these Spring Blooms stamps & dies yet, so pop back soon for Part 2 :)

Take care x

Inspired by The Script ...

Happy St. Patrick's Day! So what's an absolutely bloomin' fantastic way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day weekend? Seeing The Script live in concert!! So that's exactly what my daughter, her friend & I did last night. We had an amazing time & The Script put on a fab show playing new songs from their album & the old classics.
So today I made a card inspired by The Script & the Irish colours of green, white & orange ...

Here's a close up ...

Do you see how I used 'script' writing on the card?! I suprise myself sometimes ;)

The 'with love' sentiment in the circle is one stamp. So how did I get the circle in green & the wording in orange? I was cunning ... I coloured all of the stamp in Pumpkin Pie ink then carefully used a wipe to clean away the orange colour from the circle. I then tapped the circle part of the stamp on the edge of a Gumball Green ink pad. And voila ... 2 colours on one stamp!

I punched a hole in the script/daffodils stamping, which when layered over the sentiment with 3D pads framed the sentiment.

I'm going to enter this card in the following challenges ...
1. Less is More - the challenge this week is to 'Frame It', where some part of your design should contain a frame.
2. Ribbon Girl - the March Colour Challenge is to use green & white on your projects.
3. Just Us Girls - the Colour Challenge is to use green, white & orange ...


Supplies used:
Stamps: Personal Impressions 'Mixed Sentiments', Clearly Besotted 'Spring Blooms', Hero Arts 'Script'
Inks: SU Gumball Green & Pumpkin Pie
Other: SU 1 3/8 circle punch, corner rounder, Ribbon Girls Baker's Divine Twine, Clearly Besotted 'Spring Bloom' dies

Thanks for taking a look at my projects. Take care x

Mother's Day

Just a quick post. I've made a few cards for Mother's Day so I thought I'd share them with you ...

I'm going to enter the above card in the 'Inspired by nature' challenge on the Make My Monday blog. The challenge this week is to see cards & projects with a naturalistic theme. I love the stamps & matching Leafy accents dies from Clearly Besotted I used to make this card.

The above card was made using strips of washi tape aligned all the way down a strip of cardstock to make it appear like a seamless sky! I then stuck some red spotted washi tape onto a piece of cardstock & die cut the butterflies with the Butterfly Wishes dies. I'm entering this card  in the Washi Tape Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. Moxi Fab World have a card creations week this week with a different challenge every day, go take a look!

Supplies used:
Dies: Leafy Accents - Clearly Besotted; Butterfly Wishes - Clearly Besotted; Circles & scallop - Spellbinders
Stamps: Leafy Accents - Clearly Besotted; Framed Sentiments - Clearly Besotted
Ink pads: Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Real Red - all Stampin' Up
Other: Twine, Washi tape (clouds & hearts); Tiny Tags stamps & punch - Stampin' Up; Swiss Dots embossing folder - Cuttlebug

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Love is in the air

The other week I was very lucky to win the giveaway at Clearly Besotted of the Post it: Love stamp set & matching die! If you haven't checked out Stephanie's online shop, pop over & have a look, she has some lovely goodies! I've made a few cards now with this Post it set & here's a few of them ...

Over at Less is More they're celebrating their 2nd birthday this week & the challenge is to use only Kraft & Kreme, here, so I'm going to enter this card.

Cute card Thursday have a 'Love struck' challenge this week, so I'm going to enter this card in that challenge.

Supplies used:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Post It: Love, Clearly Besotted - Framed Sentiments
Dies: Clearly Besotted - Post It Stamp die, SU - Large Scallop Edgelits die, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder
Inks: SU Red riding hood, Memento grey fog, Memento black, SU crumb cake
Others: Baker's Divine twine - oyster, SU linen twine, buttons from stash, Red polka dot washi tape

Thanks for popping by & take care x

If music be the food of love, play on!

I wanted to try & enter a few more blog challenges this year. Over at Less is More they have a very simple sketch challenge this week, so I thought I'd have a go!
Well, I ended up making 3 cards!! Providing my lack of techy computer skills doesn't let me down, I shall try & enter all 3 cards this week.

Supplies used: SU Word Window & heart punches, SU red riding hood ink, Memento tuxedo black ink, Banana Frog Shake your tail feathers stamps

I used the word window punch to make the piano keys, but I can't take credit for this very clever idea. I saw it used on a card by one of the demonstrators at a Stampin' Up training day last year.



Supplies used: Kaisercraft sheet music stamp, SU cherry cobbler ink, twine & cardstock, SU heart punch

This last card was made using the stamp set I won in the giveaway from Clearly Besotted ...

Supplies used: Clearly Besotted Post It:Love stampset, SU real red ink

I'm entering this last card in the 'Heart' challenge on the Addicted to CAS blog this week.

I'll be making some more cards with the Post It:Love stampset, so pop back later in the week to have a look!

Thanks for popping by & take care x