A Crafty Weekend...

Hi All,

Another card from my fabulous crafty weekend!  There were 7 of us doing any number of crafts from cards to knitting to needlepoint to sewing to Scrapbooking - it's been lovely!!

As per normal, I decided to play along with a few challenges:

1. The Card Concept

I absolutely LOVED the colour combo and inspiration photo this week!  I chose to go with a Clean and Layered style.

2. Stampin Royalty

This week's theme is Flowers.

3. Try Stampin or Not on a Tuesday

Great sketch over at Try Stampin - or Not - on a Tuesday.

Here is my creation:

Card Recipe (all products used are Stampin' Up! Products unless otherwise noted):

Card Stock: Hello Honey, Basic Gray, Whisper White

Stamp Sets: Bloom With Hope, Butterfly Basics

Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black, Basic Gray, Blendabilities - Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi

Tools/Tecniques: Big Shot, Butterflies Thinlets, Modern Label Punch, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks for dropping by, I'm so glad you did!

Steph

Exciting News - Guest Designer Spot!

Hi Everyone!

I have some super exciting news today - I will be the Guest Designer over at Sunday Stamps for the month of February!  I am so happy and excited to get to hang out with these ladies and be inspired by their awesome talent.  Thanks to Holly for having me. :)

I encourage you all to head over to the Sunday Stamps blog to check out the awesome design team and to play along.  This is such a fun challenge blog.

This week is a sketch week and it was challenging for me...

In the end, I decided to use washi tape which is fairly unusual for me.  And, I decided that I really wanted to use Blendabilities and one of the most beautiful stamp sets in Stampin' Up!'s Annual Catalogue - Blended Bloom.

Here is my creation:

In order to create my card, I was also inspired by some other challenges:

1. Addicted to Stamps and More

This week is the theme is CAS (Clean and Simple) over at ATSM - it is definitely one of my favourite type of challenges/

2. Seize The Birthday

I love this challenge.  It's been a while since I've played so it's time!  This week is an "Anything Goes" week.

Card Recipe (all products used are Stampin' Up! products unless otherwise indicated):

Card Stock: Basic Black, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Blended Bloom, Bloom With Hope
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities
Tools/Techniques: Stacked With Love Designer Washi Tape, 1/8" Ribbon - Silver

Thanks so much for dropping by, I'm so glad you did.
Steph

A Happy Birthday Bloom

Hi Everyone,

Happy Monday!  I hope you all enjoyed your weekends, mine was lovely.  A little bit of crafting and cooking - you just can't go wrong!

First off, I just want to take a second to say thanks to the ladies over at Create with Connie and Mary for choosing my card (you can see it HERE) as a Top 3 pick for their colour challenge last week.  Thanks!

Today I got together for lunch with a couple of crafty friends - so much fun as always.  After lunch, we got down to a little crafting (of course!!!).  Even though tomorrow is the first full day of fall, I found myself still thinking about summer blooms today.  Fall is my favourite time of year but today I was really feeling the flowers (again...).  And, it helped that I really wanted to colour with Stampin' Up!'s Blendabilities and what better to colour than their Blended Bloom stamp?!?!

As per normal, I decided to take part and be inspired by a couple of challenges:

1.  Pals Paper Arts

This week is a sketch challenge:


2. Seize the Birthday

This week I chose to forego the "Sweet Treats - Toppings" option and stick to an "Anything Goes" card.

And here is my creation:

This is the first time that I have used the new 1/4" Cotton Ribbon and I LOVE it!  It is so easy to work with and so nice and soft on your hands.  Just lovely!!

Card Recipe (all products are Stampin' Up! products unless otherwise indicated):

Card Stock: Daffodil Delight, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Sweet Taffy DSP

Stamp Sets: Blended Bloom, Bloom with Hope

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight

Tools/Techniques: Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities Markers, Daffodil Delight Blendabilities Markers, 1/4" Cotton Ribbon - Daffodil Delight, Modern Label Punch

It would be great if you would take some time to follow my blog. :)

Thanks for dropping by,

Steph

A New Technique For Me...

Hi Everyone,

I really hope you are all enjoying your summer - can you believe we are over half way through August already?!?!

I am back again this week with another card for Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge - if you haven't had a chance to join us and play along - now is a great time!  This week is another absolutely fabulous sketch:

This week I decided to try a technique I had never done before - resist embossing.  I was recently watching the feed from this year's Stampin' Up! convention and saw one of the presenters use this technique and I really wanted to try it.  Basically, I used Watercolour Paper and stamped it with Versamark ink.  I then used White Embossing Powder along with my Heat Tool.  I then used my Aqua Painter along with Coastal Cabana ink and painted over the paper.  The ink does not stick to the Embossing Powder and creates this wonderful effect - unfortunately, I found it super hard to photograph - I hope you can see it!  And it really is Coastal Cabana - for some reason the colour almost looks green in some of the pictures... :(

Here is my card:

I really hope you will take some time and come play along with use this week - just click on the link above.  :)

Card Recipe:

Card Stock: Coastal Cabana, Watercolour Paper

Stamp Sets: Bloom with Hope

Ink: Versamark, Coastal Cabana

Tools/Techniques: Emboss Resist, White Embossing Powder, Aqua Painters, In Colour Sequin Assortment (Coastal Cabana)

I would really love if you would take the time to follow my blog!

Thanks for dropping by!

Steph

A Striking Combination

Hi again everyone!

As I mentioned earlier, I was so excited to play with a bunch of new stamp sets last night that my friend had brought over - I can barely wait to get my order on Tuesday and have even more new things to play with!

One of my favorite new sets is Bloom with Hope - it is truly a stunning and very versatile set so I was extremely excited to use it on this card.

I, ofcourse, got my inspiration from a couple of great challenges.

1. Colour Me...!

This week's colour combination was a "striking" one.  I, unfortunately, went by memory and instead of using Soft Sky, used Pool Party.  Oh well, close enough!

2. Seize the Sketch

I loved this week's sketch and found it to be super versatile.

Here's my card:

Like I said, I really love this new stamp set and the sentiments that are in it are simply beautiful.

Card Recipe:

Card Stock:  Pool Party, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White

Stamp Sets: Bloom with Hope

Ink: Pool Party, Elegant Eggplant

Tools/Techniques: Pretty Print Embossing Folder

Thanks for dropping by!

Steph