Thursday, 3 September 2026

Movie Star

 

Challenge #321 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and this fortnight we have a theme challenge and it's 

The Movies

Challenge #321 is generously being sponsored by STAMPlorations and they are offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design teams $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 the very talented Kim Higgins, our winner of Challenge #316!   You can check out how Kim and my talented team mates have interpreted our The Movies theme over on the Time Out Blog!

You may be inspired by a specific movie (perhaps a favourite of yours) or a camera, film strip or any of the many other icons often associated with The Movies

I thought this one would be a quick and easy project - I already had an NBUS die set (Decotime ) that I'd bought a few years earlier!  I made up a bucket of popcorn, some 3D glasses and a large film strip frame from the set ... and I hated it!  I tried a little background stamping ... still hated it!  

 I was really annoyed with myself when I finally folded and had a peek on Amazon for yet more schtuff that would end up joining my already mounting supply of NBUS!  All I found was this (unbranded) die set but it did look like it might give me some other options and was cheap, quickly deliverable, and didn't seem to be a knockoff of another company's set (at least not a company that I could find)!  

I already knew this lovely panel (Memory Box Matinee Rectangle Layers) would be perfect to frame my card and I did like this curved piece of film strip from the unbranded set.  I thought I'd add the word "MOVIE" but as there were 6 apertures on the filmstrip I wondered what I could add in the 6th, when in a face palm moment the song  Movie Star by Harpo popped into my head and finally I had an idea I could run with!  

The letters from this alphabet set (Tim Holtz World Travels set) fitted perfectly in the apertures I love its Art Deco / Golden Age of Cinema vibe but I'm not gonna lie, I really struggled to fit enough onto the card so that it depicted "The Movies" but not look too crowded ... and the bucket of popcorn I had my carefully constructed had no place!  Eventually I found a way to fit the bucket of popcorn (enough of it anyway) and everything else I'd already cut onto the card - they just had to hang off the edge or be carefully placed so that they overhung the film strip (strategically placed foam tape) without obscuring the "sentiment
Movie ⭐️

I still wasn't 100% satisfied - the 3D glasses looked out of place among the movie making elements!  So I carefully removed which left a bit of a hole in the upper right corner that I filled with a pair of sunglasses (PTI Beach Bag) that an up and coming starlet might wear!  I couldn't find a place for the 3D glasses and was going to leave them off entirely when I had the idea to place them on the popcorn ... as if they're in the front row at the cinema looking up at the big screen!

And there's room on that clapboard for some personalisation if I want to add it with a 
white marker or a very small alphabet at a later date!

I hope you can find some Time Out and come join us this fortnight at The Movies!

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

NBUS Challenge #89 - NBUS Decotime and unbranded sets;
Die Cut Divas September Challenge - Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose - everything except the panel and base were cut from snippets left over from previous projects;

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

Tuesday, 1 September 2026

Bake Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Sparkles Christmas Challenge 187 has just gone live and it was my turn to pick a theme and I chose 

"How Sweet it is!"

 Think hot cocoa, cookies, candy canes ...

I had a lot of fun with this card though it was a lot of work!  I didn't mind though as it's for my daughter-in-law (a pastry chef) - I think she'll get a kick out of it!  Will I be making this particular design again - probably not!  But perhaps that adorable little plate of cookies in a more CAS design ...

The cookies, plate, tray, rolling pin, candy canes and hot chocolate with marshmallows (Papertrey Ink Cookie Swap) were cut from loads of snippets.  

I cut "BAKE" (The Greetery Bake it Merry) from red and green card stock and generated some computer text (Are you Freakin'Serious font) so that it would fit on the rolling pin.  

It still need something in the upper corners so I added some foliage (Sizzix Winter Foliage) 

... and I nibbled on one of one the cookies with a scalloped circle punch.

Here are some closeups




I hope you can find time to join us this month at the Sparkles Christmas Challenge - this year has gone so fast and Christmas is getting close now!

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

NBUS Challenge #90 - Both baking sets are NBUS;
Inspired by Challenge #IB404 - Inspired by this lovely red and green Kitchen scene;
Snippets Challenge #540 - many, many snippets used for this card;
Die Cut Divas September Challenge - Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose (Almost everything apart from the base and front panel were from leftover pieces from previous projects - Waste not, Want not!);
ABC Christmas Challenge P,Q,R - R is for rectangle (the shape of the baking tray) and Q (there are 4 biscuits on that tray);
The Outlawz September Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas goes;
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - 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 

Thursday, 20 August 2026

Inspired by Gaudi

Time Out Challenge #320 has just gone live and this fortnight we have a

Photo Inspiration Challenge


I snapped this photo last year when I toured Europe with my sister.  It was taken inside the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and this photo does not do it justice!  It was a humbling experience to be inside such a work of art and I have to admit the beauty and majesty of the Sagrada Familia knocked the air right out of my lungs when I first saw it - I think I may even have shed a tear!  This is just one of dozens of arched windows, all slightly different and all designed to transform the incoming light into a kaleidoscope of colour on those interior columns and carefully placed so that the pattern changes with the morning and evening sun as well as the seasons!  I visited a few of the residences in Barcelona that he designed as well - Gaudi was a genius and like so many geniuses was largely unappreciated in his own time!  Fortunately there were enough people who did appreciate his genius and there are still examples of his genius dotted around Barcelona today!

Here's a closer look!


Challenge 320 is being sponsored by Top Flight Stamps and they are very kindly offering our top pick as chosen by the design team a $25 store credit!

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 this fortnight is Jane Taylor of Purple Jet our winner from Challenge #315.  Be sure to check out Jane's Instagram Account if you haven't visited her previously.   You can also see how my talented team mates were inspired on the Time Out Blog!

You may be inspired by the architecture, the colours or the shapes.  Please explain how you were inspired - especially if it isn't obvious!   You can enter as many times as you like but please limit your other challenges entered to 4 (5 including ours)!  I hope you can take some Time Out and join us this fortnight - you have until the July 22nd to link up your entries ... can't wait to see your creations in the gallery!

Normally I would have looked to my pile of NBUS items for inspiration but how could I pass on the opportunity to use this lovely window die (Poppystamps Arched Gothic Cathedral Window) again - I mean it's perfect isn't it!

For the "stained glass", I searched through my copious papers but I couldn't get the ombre look I wanted so I visited the digital site PNGWING and found this image which I loaded into Word and reoriented (so that the warmer reds were on the bottom and the cooler blues on the top) and resized to fit behind the window.

I cut the aperture from the card panel, placed the "stained glass" behind this, then added the die cut back into the aperture.  I stacked another of the background windows (there are 2 dies in the set) then added the finer silver die cut to the top.

I decided to go with a Christmas sentiment (Spellbinders Handmade Sentiments) and augment my Christmas card stash - after all we're over half way through the year now!

I am grateful for and would like to enter the following challenges
Christmas Cards All Year Round August Challenge - "P is for Peace" (which is what I felt inside the "Q is for quiet" Sagrada Familia)
The Outlawz August Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas goes;
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #209 - 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 how to find you!

Kate