Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall?

 

Another fun challenge has just gone live at Time Out Challenges - we would like to see how you are inspired by Your Favourite Season!

Challenge #297 is generously being sponsored by Waffle Flower and they are offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design teams a $25 credit to their store!  

The Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge!  Speaking of guest designers, our guest designer this fortnight is Darnell our winner from Challenge #292.  Darnell’s blog is one of my favourite places to visit - be sure to check out how she was inspired by her favourite season and her latest escapades!  And you can see how my talented team mates were inspired by their favourite season over on the Time Out Blog!

I have always loved Autumn!  When I lived in Australia it was always a relief when the cooler months of Autumn gave us some respite from the summer heat.  Plus, my dad came from Tumut, which was nestled at the foot of the Snowy Mountains and known for its tall poplars and colourful Autumnal displays of trees that had been transplanted from Europe and it was always a special treat to visit my grandmother's farm at that time of year!  Of course when I transplanted myself  in Europe, I was in awe of  the of miles of country roads and whole mountainsides covered in all manner of deciduous trees!  So, definitely Autumn is my favourite season - especially when it comes to crafting!  I just love the challenge of trying to recreate that beauty!

For this card today I embossed a panel of Kraft cardstock using the Tim Holtz Lumber 3D Texture Fades Embossing folder and distressed it with Barn Door, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks, then went over it with some gold gilding wax. 

I cut some branches (Spellbinders Cherry Blossoms) and distressed them with Gathered Twig DI.  

Then I cut loads of oak leaves (Tim Holtz Fall Foliage) from snippets of Kraft cardstock and distressed each leaf using Mowed Lawn, Barn Door and Mustard Seed DIs.   It would have been easier to distress the card stock first and then cut the leaves but because the leaves were so small I couldn't see how I could make sure I got all the colours on each leaf so I placed finger daubers on 3 of my fingers and distressed each leaf leaf individally (see below).  

After lining up the branches across the base of the card and attaching the leaves I cut this NBUS Autumn sentiment (ORIGACH Month Week and Year Planner) and some alphabets from snippets of darker brown card stock.  I did distress these with the autumnal colours as well but because the colour was quite dark it's hardly noticeable.

I cut the letters for the "blessings" from card stock that had double sided tape on the back and "spelt" it out on a strip of temporary tape so it would stay put while I distressed it but could easily be removed afterwards - this was really useful for lining it up on the panel.

Finally I winked the sentiment and leaves to make them sparkle (as always tricky to photograph)!

I am grateful for and would like to enter the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #78 - NBUS Month Week and Year Planner (Autumn Sentiment);

Inspiration Station Challenge #77 - see pic below;

Four Seasons Fall Challenge September;

Word Power September Challenge;

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday for September - Anything Goes;

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly

 

Sparkles Christmas Challenge 175 has just gone live and Debs has chosen Add Some Holly as our theme for the month of September!  

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and should be able to find you!

Kate

One in a Million

Challenge #296 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and this fortnight we have the theme

Friendship/Encouragement/Support!

This challenge is generously being sponsored by Claire Brennan Design and Illustrations and Claire donated this incredible Stamp set earlier in the year as a prize for our Top Pick as chosen by the design team!   

The Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge!  Speaking of guest designers, our guest designer this fortnight is LeAnne Pugliese of Wee Inklings our winner of Challenge #290!  Be sure to check out the Time Out Blog to see how how LeAnne and my talented team mates were inspired by our theme!

Sadly Claire has since closed her store so this is your "last chance to see" this stamp set.  Many of you will remember Claire Brennan from her Waltzing Mouse Stamps days and will be just as saddened as when WMS closed its doors!  I am lucky enough to own many of Claire's stamp sets from her WMS days and a few of her newer ones to and will treasure them always!

I needed a quick card for my gymnastic dance instructor and decided to use a butterfly as a focal element (though an elephant would perhaps have been a more accurate choice LOL)!  This stunning NBUS butterfly (Poppy Stamps Nordic Belle Butterfly) was cut from snippets of various coloured card and I swapped the layers around until I was happy!  It's such a stunning butterfly it didn't really need anything else except a sentiment and I found the perfect one in Claire's Mid Modern City Stamp Set!  Stamping on this highly textured card stock is difficult so I used my stamping platform but the quality of Claire's stamps is such that the stamping worked perfectly on the first attempt with Verafine Onyx Black Ink.  I winked everything though you'll have to take my word for that since it's hardly noticeable in the photo!  And after winking, I went over the body of the butterfly with glossy accents for stability  - now it sparkles and shines!

I am grateful for and would like to enter the following challenges

Snippets Playground Challenge #513 - see below for snippets

NBUS Challenge #77 - NBUS Butterfly;

Triple B August Challenge - Birds, Butterflies or Blooms;

Allsorts Challenge #830 - Something beginning with "B" (Butterfly);

Double D Challenge - Butterflies;

Twofer:

Since I had cut the butterfly layers from several colours, I assembled a second card (this time a portrait orientation), using this "thanks" die cut sentiment in place of a stamped sentiment.  

Again I winked everything (including the sentiment) and again I went over the body of the butterfly with glossy accents - sentiment too!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Celebration Fika

 

Challenge #295 at Time Out has just gone live and this fortnight we have another

Photo Inspiration Challenge

Here's a closer look at this fabulous source of inspiration that our team mate Jenny snapped of Queenscliff Harbour !

Challenge 295 is being sponsored by Lawn Fawn and they are very kindly offering our top pick as chosen by the design team a $25 store credit and the Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge!  

The Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge and speaking of guest designers, our guest designer this fortnight is Kathy Schweinfurth of Stamps at Play - our winner from Challenge 290!  Be sure to check out her gorgeous creation inspired by our photo as well as those of my talented team mates over on the Time Out Blog!

Be sure to see how my talented team mates were inspired over on the Time Out Blog and I do hope you can take some Time Out to come play cards with us this fortnight!

What I noticed straight away was that yummy pastry (Jenny's two feathered visitors seem to be eyeing it as well).  Which made me think of this NBUS Gummiapan Swedish Fika set and the timing could not have been better because one of my oldest friends in Luxembourg celebrates her 60th birthday this year and she just happens to be Swedish!  

A little gilding wax and a few more NBUS items later and finally had a design I was happy with and I hope Lena will love!

Here's a photo I snapped in the sunshine earlier in the afternoon.

And here is something I found on FB

I am grateful for and would like to enter the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #77 - NBUS Gummiapan Fika die set, Gummiapan Mini Banner die set, Gummiapan frame (from , Gummiapan Coffee Stain Rubber Stamp;

Ellibelle's Corner August Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes;

First Cup Challenge #5 - Anything Drinks Related (hopefully the coffee stains acccompanying my Fika count);

Heart's Quest Challenge Blog #76 - Include a red and/or orange heart (mine is tiny);

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Sparkling Trees

 

Sparkles Christmas Challenge 175 has just gone live and Debbie has chosen Include a Tree as our theme for the month of August!  These days, I always try to use at least one the many NBUS  (Never Before Used Schtuff or Stash) items that I haven't yet had time or opportunity to use!   For this project, I included two trees from a Charlie & Paulchen set  - Winterliche Bäume which translates to Wintry Trees!  

Wintry trees calls for sparkle and since I still had some of the white glitter card stock on my desk from last month's Christmas Sparkles Challenge, that's what I used!  

The falling snow background was created by using another NBUS set (Snowbanks by Justine Hovey) to cut a black panel which I laid on a white card base.  The snowbank (also from the Snowbank set) was also cut from glitter card stock, as was this "sparkle" sentiment (Creative Craft Sparkle and Shine set)!

I do hope you can join us at the Sparkles Christmas Challenge and are inspired by the rest of the Design Team!  It's never easy making Christmas cards in the summer heat but given how fast this year is disappearing, December will be upon us before we know it!!!

I am grateful for and would like to enter the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #77 - NBUS Snowbanks set and Winterliche Bäume set;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #63 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Darnell's IDEAS - anything goes week;

Krafty Chicks Challenge #779 - Anything Goes week;

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #188 - Anything Christmas Goes

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and should be able to find you!

Kate

Rise Above

 

Time Out Challenge #294 has just gone live and it's one of our new challenges for 2025 - a Pick 2 Challenge! 

The concept of a Pick 2 Challenge is self-explanatory - we give you 6 word prompts to choose from and you use at least 2 of them to inspire your creation!  To be clear, you can pick more than 2 if you like - all 6 if you really want to challenge yourself but just make sure you pick at least 2!

The Word Prompts for this challenge are

Torn, Transport, Star, Stripes, Rainbow and Book

 Challenge 294 is being sponsored by Newton's Nook and they are very kindly offering our top pick as chosen by the design team a $25 store credit!

 And as usual, our Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge!  Speaking of guest designers, our guest designer this fortnight is Bonnie Klass our winner of Challenge #289!  Be sure to check out the Time Out Blog to see how how Bonnie and my talented team mates were inspired by these 6 words!

My design was inspired mostly by the words book and rainbow - The Wizard of Oz was a favourite book (and movie) of my children when they were younger and the classic song from the movie Over the Rainbow is also one of my favourite songs too!  And as I was thinking about the story, I was reminded that the Wizard's mode of transport was hot air balloon so I made up this hot air balloon (Elizabeth Designs Hot Air Balloon with Pop-up set) using some DP with rainbow stars!  

This sentiment (Verve Rise Above) worked well I thought!  I added some clouds (from the same set Elizabeth Dies set) as a "sun" (Memory Box Small Circle Burst) to complete the scene!  The balloon was mounted on a wobble spring so it jiggles a little - a super easy way of making the card a little more fun!

See how easy it is to Pick (at least) 2 - I started with 2 and ended up with 4!  Hopefully these 6 words will challenge you to take some Time Out and join us!

I am grateful for and would like to enter the following fabulous challenges

Traumfabrik Challenge 141 has chosen the movie Spotlight as it's theme, and as the "sun" is shining on my hot air balloon I hope this works!

The Alphabet Challenge has home as it's theme and as anybody who has ever seen the Wizard of Oz knows, "there's no place like home"!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes;

Darnell's IDEAS - Anything Goes!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and should be able to find you!

Kate