Seize the Birthday Challenge #317

 

I made this gorgeous card for my sister-in laws birthday a few weeks ago and I hadn't blogged it so I thought I would pop it into the "anything goes" challenge at Seize the Birthday.

I did a short stop motion video when I made the card - 

not bad for my first time - guess how many photos it took to make this?

This card was relatively easy to make. 

The inside panel was a 1 inch strip the length of the cardstock base folded in 4, concertina style with a valley, then mountain then valley fold and then the two ends are glued to the card base so that it "pops up" when opened.

This is the last challenge until next year so see what you can do with it?

• Stamps: Extraordinary Flora & the birthday from Beautiful Butterflies
• Ink: Card 1 - Berry Burst, Card 2 Flirty Flamingo
• Card: Card 1 -Basic White, Berry Burst and Shaded Spruce, Card 2 - Basic White, Flirty Flamingo and Old Olive Both cards used Country Woods DSP
• Tools: Extraordinary Flora, Party Banners & Mini Alphabet Dies, Mini Corrugated 3D Embossing Folder with a Sampin' Cut n Emboss Machine, Blending Brushes
• Embellishments: - Dimensionals, Foam Adhesive sheets and Extraordinary Flora washi tape
• #317

Click here to see the blog- Seize the Birthday: Seize the Birthday #317-Use Christmas Supplies

Colour INKspiration 199 #CI199

 

Welcome to Colour Inkspiration!

What is Colour INKspiraton? – a Facebook based bi-monthly colour challenge.

Anyone with Facebook can join in.  You don’t need a blog and you don’t need to be a demonstrator.

I have joined in these challenges and love them as Colour challenges for me are actually a real challenge.

 Click here to join the Facebook page which now has over 3000 members and see what it’s all about.

Here’s some of the basic details about the challenge –

The Colour INKspiration Crew! consists of a team of talented Aussie and NZ Stampin’ Up! ® Demonstrators that create projects based on Pinterest inspired colour swatches.

Every second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 pm (AEDT), a new colour swatch will be uploaded to the Facebook Colour INKspiration Group and the Colour INKspiration Crew will get the ball rolling by providing inspiration for each challenge with a post on their blogs.

Then you have a 12 day period to upload your own creations using the colours provided.

If you have a blog, feel free to link back to it, but all entries will be via Facebook.  The design team will select 5 projects to be ‘design team picks’ and then the Facebook group will select an overall winner from this shortlist.

Colour INKspiration 199

Here is what I came up with

I decided to get one last card from my Thankful Garden set which is currently on the last chance rack!

 

 So it has now been 6 months without all of my social media pages. 

My last chance is to send a letter by post to see if I can get any reply or action taken..... Wish me luck!

We have just had another lot of holidays here in Western Australia. We went to Bali with 3 other families which was awesome!

The card above was made using Very Vanilla as the card base. I stamped the Hydrangea on the back ground in opposite corners using the Pecan Pie ink. I had a scrap of Pecan Pie cardstock which I embossed and ripped the side to give it a distressed look.

The Hydrangea was ink blended with the stencils and tone on tone with the Cherry Cobbler and Shaded Spruce inks. The top layer on the flowers was using the Pecan Pie. It looks a little bit like a Poinsettia. 

If you are interested in joining in on this great challenge.

Remember to upload your cards to our facebook group here!

• Stamps: Thankful Garden
• Ink: Pecan Pie, Cherry Cobbler and Shaded Spruce
• Card: Very Vanilla Thick, Pecan Pie, Basic White and Shaded Spruce
• Tools:  Thankful Garden and Stylish Shapes Dies, Mini Corrugated Embossing Folder with a Stampin' Cut and Emboss Machine, Blending Brushes 
• Embellishments: - Dimensionals, Gold Striped 3/8" mesh ribbon
• #CI199

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - #625

 

I love doing challenges, it really prompts me to get creative!

This challenge called for CLEAN AND SIMPLE and I had the perfect card for this challenge.

So Simple I made two of them

I usually make a fun fold or more difficult card for my first card in my monthly card class. After making the more "complex" card we always do a simple card for the second one.

This one was my simple card and my it looks so effective!

It is basically a Basic White thick piece of cardstock folded in half and the top piece is an embossed piece of smaller basic white. (embossed with the Exposed Brick embossing folder)

The first card my class made, they used the largest circle cut from the Stylish Shapes dies and we saved the negative piece to use on this card. Take a blending brush and colour in the circle over the background. 

The butterfly was cut from the Hybrid Beautiful Butterflies embossing folder and again using blending brushes coloured. The black outline of the butterfly was cut from the Beautiful Butterflies dies and makes all the colours on the card pop!

I left them blank so they could be used for any occasion.

• Stamps: - nil
• Ink: Card 1 - Shy Shamrock, Fresh Freesia and Petunia Pop. Card 2 - Melon Mambo, Timid Tiger and Daffodil Delight
• Card: Basic White, Basic Black
• Tools: Beautiful Butterflies Dies and Exposed brick embossing folder with a Stampin' Cut n Emboss Machine, Blending Brushes
• Embellishments: - nil

To visit this challenge hop on over to - Fab 'n' Funky Challenges: Challenge #625 - Clean and Simple

Colour INKspiration 192 #CI192

 

Welcome to Colour Inkspiration!

What is Colour INKspiraton? – a Facebook based bi-monthly colour challenge.

Anyone with Facebook can join in.  You don’t need a blog and you don’t need to be a demonstrator.

I have joined in these challenges and love them as Colour challenges for me are actually a real challenge.

 Click here to join the Facebook page which now has over 3000 members and see what it’s all about.

Here’s some of the basic details about the challenge –

The Colour INKspiration Crew! consists of a team of talented Aussie and NZ Stampin’ Up! ® Demonstrators that create projects based on Pinterest inspired colour swatches.

Every second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 pm (AEDT), a new colour swatch will be uploaded to the Facebook Colour INKspiration Group and the Colour INKspiration Crew will get the ball rolling by providing inspiration for each challenge with a post on their blogs.

Then you have a 12 day period to upload your own creations using the colours provided.

If you have a blog, feel free to link back to it, but all entries will be via Facebook.  The design team will select 5 projects to be ‘design team picks’ and then the Facebook group will select an overall winner from this shortlist.

Colour INKspiration 192

Using 5 colours is a bit of a challenge for me.

Here is what I came up with

 

Sigh......

 Still no luck with all of my social media pages. 

It is the most frustrating thing to ever have to deal with!

I have just had a two-week break with my family up north again as it was school holidays here in Western Australia. We went to Point Samson which is a two day drive to get to but worth the lovely warm weather we had... it was a comfortable 30 degrees. 

Now we are home and it will be a top of 17 degrees tomorrow and there has been loads of rain :-(

I received a BBB (Big Brown Box as us demos call it) just before I went away as I took advantage of the 1/2 price suite sale that was offered at the beginning of last month.

I finally purchased the Cheers and Sips Suite and I am now wondering why I didn't get it sooner!!

I started out with watercolour paper to do the glasses and clear embossed the outlines of the glasses. I then embossed the ice blocks and I masked them in-between to get the effect of more than two ice blocks in each glass. The water colouring I did let dry, in between laying down the colour and gave them a spritz of water to give them a more textured look. Once this dried, I took my whisper white ink and whitewashed the ice blocks to make them look opaque.

The background was also brushed with watercolour for slight colouring and then embossed with one of the Glass and Gardens folders for texture.

I felt the card looked slightly washed out when I originally placed all the pieces together to make the card, so I added a black embossed arched die piece to break it up with a strip of the dsp from Celebratory Sips and the Gold Striped Mesh ribbon. It was then finished off with the Iridescent Foil Gems and the Cheers stamp, white embossed on black and fussy cut out. 

The back purple looking drink reminds me of a Fruit Tingle....Yum!

If you are interested in joining in on this great challenge.

Remember to upload your cards to our facebook group here!

• Stamps: Cheers and Sips
• Ink: Azure Afternoon, Blueberry Bushel, Gorgeous Grape, Timid Tiger, Bubble Bath and Versamark
• Card: Basic White Thick and Thin, Basic Black, Celebratory Sips DSP and Watercolour paper
• Tools:  Cheers and Sips & Everyday Arches Dies, Glass and Gardens Embossing Folders with a Stampin' Cut and Emboss Machine, Versamark with White and Clear Embossing Powder, Watercolouring pens
• Embellishments: - Dimensionals, Iridescent Foil Gems
• #CI192

Colour INKspiration 191 #CI191

 

Welcome to Colour Inkspiration!

What is Colour INKspiraton? – a Facebook based bi-monthly colour challenge.

Anyone with Facebook can join in.  You don’t need a blog and you don’t need to be a demonstrator.

I have joined in these challenges and love them as Colour challenges for me are actually a real challenge.

 Click here to join the Facebook page which now has over 3000 members and see what it’s all about.

Here’s some of the basic details about the challenge –

The Colour INKspiration Crew! consists of a team of talented Aussie and NZ Stampin’ Up! ® Demonstrators that create projects based on Pinterest inspired colour swatches.

Every second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 pm (AEDT), a new colour swatch will be uploaded to the Facebook Colour INKspiration Group and the Colour INKspiration Crew will get the ball rolling by providing inspiration for each challenge with a post on their blogs.

Then you have a 12 day period to upload your own creations using the colours provided.

If you have a blog, feel free to link back to it, but all entries will be via Facebook.  The design team will select 5 projects to be ‘design team picks’ and then the Facebook group will select an overall winner from this shortlist.

Colour INKspiration 191

Ohhhh I totally LOVE these colours together! 

I have missed a few challenges because a few weeks ago, I had my facebook and my instagram pages suspended! I am shocked..... Apparently, I have violated their terms and conditions somehow... I really am hoping that I can recover my pages or that means I have years of photos and posts totally gone! Devastating.... I will still create and get my images through to Lou who will post them on the Colour INKspiration page for me....... I really can not understand what has happened as I know I have not voilated any terms and conditions. AI is no help to us at all! 

Anyway, I had this idea in my head, and I had to get it out onto paper...

I am super, super happy with how it worked out!

I really love any of the stencils that Stampin' Up! make and I have made this particular card with the Thankful Garden Stencils. 

I thought about making the background of the card using them with a random pattern over the back. I also coloured up another "extra" set of flowers to be die cut afterwards.

The background was a bit too dark for my idea so I rummaged around in my papers and found a piece of vellum. The Gallery Blooms dies have a "frame" style die that I cut in the silver foil and I thought it would be perfect to use with the vellum placed behind to tone down the background. It worked!

The sentiment came from the new online exclusive called Charming Day and it was heat embossed in white embossing powder on black cardstock, then fussy cut out before adhering with dimensionals.

Tip- Did you know you can colour the top of the white embossed sentiment with Stampin' Blends to get any coloured sentiment to match your card?

I cut two extra leaves from the Thankful Garden Dies and used my blending brushes to add some darker Granny Apple Green to the ends of the leaves and finished off using the Holographic Resin Dots... (I think a new favourite now of mine)

If you are interested in joining in on this great challenge.

Remember to upload your cards to our facebook group here!

• Stamps: Charming Day and Thankful Garden
• Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Berry Burst, Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lime Twist, Memento Black and Versamark
• Card: Basic White Thick and Thin, Basic Black, Lemon Lime Twist, Silver Foil and Vellum
• Tools:  Thankful Garden, Gallery Blooms Dies with a Stampin' Cut and Emboss Machine, Versamark with White Embossing Powder, Blending Brushes
• Embellishments: - Dimensionals, Holographic Resin Dots
• #CI191

Tic Tac Toe Challenge 272 #TTTC272

 

I love this challenge as it has so many options on what you can make with it. 

I'm so excited about this particular challenge, because as soon as I saw it, I knew which card that I was going to submit!

Here are the challenge options and as it states it's a tic tac toe challenge, so you choose a straight line either diagonal, up/down or across.

I chose the top straight line across for this challenge! 

Bee/butterfly, Layers and Die cuts

ohhh I just noticed I could have used two more of the lines too!!

Can you pick them?

They are the diagonal from top right down to bottom left

Die Cuts, FREE and ink blending 

or 

Middle top - bottom

Layers, FREE and Floral/Foliage.... 

The Free in both instances could be either funky fold or embossing.

Like the last challenge, let's look at these pics a little closer

It is a bit of a funky fold too. 

It's a bit of a z fold style of card but using the arch dies to make the shape of the card.

To make this card I used one sheet of basic white cardstock for most of it. 

I started out cutting the cardstock in half so there were two long pieces (cut on the short side so @ 10.5cm along the top) and put aside the second piece for the smaller fold on the card and flowers.

Take this long piece of cardstock and fold in half. I used the biggest arch die to cut the rounded section of the card base without cutting through the fold. (Tip: push the cardstock up through the die so that part sits on top of the die and will not cut through) Once this is cut, fold the front panel back toward the fold to make the z shape. The smaller white panel was made the same using the 6th largest die (from a cut piece 6cm wide x 18cm long) and then embossing the longest piece with the embossing folder.

I used the 3rd largest die to cut the designer series paper for the matting on the front and inside of the card.

The flowers were all cut out with the leftover white cardstock and then with the blending brushes, I blended from the outside inwards to get the darker depth of colour over the ends of the flowers. The leaves had the two colours of granny apple green and old olive blended at the tips of the leaves again to get the darker depth of colour.

I loved this card so much that I had to show my class ladies and they were lucky enough to get to make one each to take home for their last class last week.

• Stamps: Sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies
• Ink: Versamark, Timid Tiger, Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight, Pecan Pie, Granny Apple Green and Old Olive
• Card: Basic White, Basic Black, Florals in Bloom DSP and 2024-2026 Glimmer INcolour paper
• Tools: Everyday Arches, Beautiful Butterflies & Impressions Abloom Dies and Exposed brick embossing folder with a Sampin' Cut n Emboss Machine, Blending Brushes and White Embossing Powder with a Heat Tool
• Embellishments: - Dimensionals, 
• #TTTC272