Hope and Blooms

Time Out Challenge #311 has just gone live and it's another Pick 2 Challenge and as you can see I got a little carried away - 6 cards for this challenge!

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

The Word Prompts for this challenge are

Pastel, Earth, Rain, Hope, Tree, Bloom

You can interpret these words any way you like but please explain if it isn't obvious and please remember we only allow a total of 5 challenges - ours plus 4 others!  I hope you enjoy our challenge and that you can take a little Time Out and join us for some fun!  

Challenge #311 is generously being sponsored by STAMPlorations and Shery is offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design teams a $25 credit to the STAMPlorations 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 Karen Walker our winner from Challenge #306!  Be sure to check out the Time Out Blog to see how how Karen and my talented team mates were inspired by these six words!

Shery very kindly sent me a set of her amazing Quickcards #3 - Spring Florals A2 Card Fronts!  These absolutely gorgeous watercolour designs are super thick (325gsm), super smooth and an absolute delight to work with!  

To start with, I stamped this lovey piece of text from an old WMS set (Fine Feathers) which included the word "Hope" onto the bottom right hand corner of one of the more pastel card fronts - there was a nice little blank space there that accommodated it perfectly.  Then I used the eclipse technique to cut the word "hope" (Winnie and Walter) from a floral section of the card - subtle but love the dimension of this!  Then I scattered a few purple butterflies and pearls around.

I couldn't stop there though!  Since I had the WMS Fine Feathers set out, I grabbed another sentiment from the set and stamped it onto a scrap of vellum.  I wrapped this around the card front and cut a pink feather (Memorybox Plumed Gypsy Feather), distressed it a little with Picked Raspberry DI and placed it under the sentiment.  I had a bottle of white enamel accents (that I hadn't touched for years) and after a good shake laid some white dots on the feather for some interest.  It still needed something more so added a few of these tiny butterflies (also distressed with Picked Raspberry DI using a finger dauber).

I thought this lovely NBUS butterfly (Gummiapan's 2025 Easter Advent Calendar) went rather well with the watercolour blooms and made up another 3 cards fairly quickly using the panels that were predominantly purple.  The butterflies were cut from a light purple card stock but I distressed them with Seedless Preserves and Chipped Sapphire DIs .  I winked them as well though it's hard to tell from the photos - they look so much lovelier in real life!  I cut just the body from some darker purple and laid it down the middle - these Gummiapan dies are designed to snip away easily.  I just love how well these turned out!

• I added 2 butterflies to the first purple panel and a "hugs" sentiment (Spellbinders Vivid Script) and tried some photo corners (Sizzix Bigz Movers and Shapers ATC).

• I added a "comfort" sentiment to the second with a single butterfly and some different (and NBUS) photo corners (Gummiapan).

• I stamped a birthday sentiment (WMS Big Day Today) on the 3rd. and added a single butterfly and a few smaller butterflies.  

For the 6th card, I stamped some text that included the word "BLOOM" (Poppystamps Colorful Life) onto another of the card panels and added a swallowtail butterfly (JustPaper Butterfly Mix by Justine Hovey) cut from blue card stock (this panel was more blue than purple).  I wanted to add "rain" drops to the panel but couldn't make them work on this card and ended up using these to line the body of the butterfly instead so they're really just clear pearls not rain drops - uhh!

So I've managed Pastel, Hope, and Bloom!  I hope you can take some Time Out and join us this fortnight.  You have until the April 29th to link up your entries ... can't wait to see which words you choose and how they inspire you!

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

NBUS Challenge #85 - NBUS Gummiapan Butterfly and Gummiapan Photo Corners on Card 4;

Triple B April Challenge - Blooms and Butterflies on all cards;

The Neglected Stuff April Challenge - WMS Fine Feathers Stamp Set and Enamel Accents;

Ellibelle's Garden Party #14 - Anything in (or from) a Garden;

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

La Dolce Vita

A new challenge has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and we would like to see how you are inspired by Sweet Treats!

Challenge #305 is generously being sponsored by Lawn Fawn 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 the very talented Dawn of Dawn's World our winner from Challenge #305!   You can check out how Dawn and my talented team mates were inspired by their favourite card making techniques over on the Time Out Blog!

This Strawberry Charlotte die came in last year's Gummiapan Advent Calendar and being NBUS was my first thought for this challenge!  The Dolce Vite banner die (Spellbinders) was also a recent acquisition and as La Dolce Vite literally translates to The Sweet Life, it seemed the perfect sentiment.  Then it was just a matter of deciding out how to put a card together.  In the end I chose another NBUS die to frame the dessert (also from last year's Gummiapan Advent Calendar).

With a little snipping, I was able to build up layers to give the dessert some dimension.   I also shaped the lady fingers with a stylus and 'winked' them to give the appearance of a sugar coating but this wasn't picked up by the camera unfortunately.

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

NBUS Challenge #85 - NBUS Charlotte die, frame and sentiment

The Paper Players PP779 - First Column (Die-cut, Circle, Sparkle);

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

Jolly Jumping Elf

 Sparkles Christmas Challenge 183 has just gone live and Melanie has chosen Elves and Gnomes as our theme for April!

For this challenge I pulled out this jolly little elf (Charlie & Paulchen Wichtelreihe), which was a good thing as I had forgotten I'd bought this little box die (Charlie & Paulchen Kleine Geschenk Box) for him to jump out from. 

The elf was cut from white card stock and coloured with alcohol markers and his beard was also cut from white felt.  I coloured his little shoes black and added a little glossy accents so they'd shine

For his nose, I coloured it with a flesh coloured marker and coated it with glossy accents to make it bulbous.

Here's a closeup

I added a trimmed down wobble element behind his back to give the impression he really is jumping out of that box and also so he would stand clear of this large sentiment (Waltzing Mouse Stamps 'Tis the Season) - I'm having printer issues at the moment but I would have liked to say "Have your-elf a merry little Christmas"!

The rather splendid frame is from the 2023 Gummiapan Advent Calendar.

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

NBUS Challenge #85 - NBUS Cloud Frame and Box;

Die Traumfabrik - Sweet Little Things (Anything Small);

Inkspirational Challenge #364 - CAS, E is for Elf;

Peace on Earth Challenge #108 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Jingle Belles - Walking in a Whimsical Wonderland;

ABC Christmas Challenge - E is for Elf;

The Outlawz April 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 how to find you!

Kate