Life Support

 Anyone else been struggling with their MOJO lately?  Post-Christmas exhaustion and dark, dismal days always tend to get me down at this time of the year but add a pandemic to the mix and ... well I just felt like the light at the end of the tunnel had been switched off!  

When a friend of mine saw a previous card I had made with the SugarCut Heart Beat and asked if I could make up something similar in green I jumped at the chance to make something to kickstart Mr. Mojo!  She explained that she wanted a Valentine's Card for a friend of hers who has helped her get through the lockdown with weekly G & T Zoom meetings!  After making up the heartbeat border,  I went through all my stamps and realised that I didn't have anything which would work as a sentiment but  "Life Support" popped into my head (which she loved) so I made up a banner using Word Art.   I noticed this cocktail stamp in a new set of beach/ocean related stamp set I got for Christmas and thought it might work well for this G&T loving friend's card!  

As you can see the heartbeats have been layered up.  It can be devilishly tricky to work with fine die cuts like this but if they are layered up they're less likely to "stretch" out of shape.  As I said, the banner sentiment was created using Word Art (a green Text box with a white typewriter font) then cut with the smallest Crealies Stitched Rectangle Die (I don't know what I would do without this set).  I stamped the cocktail directly on the card front and again on another piece of white card.    I then cut out just the glass from this extra copy, coloured it, coated it with glossy accents and placed it over the other image.

I added some gold to the gin and tonic and also to the sentiment and heartbeat while the glossy accents was drying!

I'm entering my card in Just Add Ink Challenge #539 (heartbeat border and the sentiment banner)

Also  Challenge #190 at Addicted to CAS  where the prompt is Pattern

I'm also entering the following challenges

Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge for January

Pixie's Snippet's Challenge #395

NBUS Challenge #22

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I'll know where to find you and can return the favour!
Hugs and stay safe,

Kate

Books and Tea

I saw an annoying ad on Facebook a while back and it got me thinking.  Everyone knows that tea is instant wisdom - you just need to add water!  Add that to a love of reading and you can't go wrong!  

I decided to make a bookmark card - seemed like a good idea for a book-themed card!  I decorated a pocket for my bookmark with a stack of books and popped a cuppa on the top.  This little owl was rolling his eyes when he saw the bookmark I made so I added him to the scene as well (he really needed his specs to read that last line)!

This card will be entering the following challenges

Day of the Month Club Challenge #23 - National Bird Day

Use Your Stuff Challenge #414 - Out with the Old (I've been hoarding the paper pad for years)

Shopping Our Stash Challenge # 437 - I need a cup of Coffee (or tea in my case)

Little Red Wagon Challenge #585 - Die-ing to get Crafty 

Happy Little Stampers January 2021 Anything Goes with Dies

NBUS Challenge #22 - The Owl was NBUS

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I'll know where to find you and can return the favour!

Hugs and stay safe,

Kate

Always Bee Amazing

I'm having a bit of a lull in my mojo of late!  When this happens I often revisit old cards - a bit like treading water until you can muster the energy to swim to shore I guess!  And that's what I did today.  I found this pretty sheet of 12x12 sunflower paper recently and managed to get 6 panels out of it.  I made a card for a friend's birthday last year and I made this spinner card with another panel today.  

I suppose it was the yellow sunflowers that made me think of this bumblebee.  I made a heap of these bees back in 2017 and still had a few left (Whats the Buzz from Verve).   I cut a channel for my little bee to flit backwards and forwards across the card front and then it was just a matter of adding a sentiment.   There are some great sentiments in the set - I considered What's the Buzz, All things are Possible and You're the Bees Knees but in the end I went with two die cut words - Always (the Big, the Bold, the Comfort from Winnie and Walter) and Amazing (Amazing Adjectives from Verve) and made an encouragement card.  No matter how many of these spinner cards I make, I never get tired of playing with them afterwards.

At Use Your Stuff Challenge #414 the theme is Out with the Old - i.e. get rid of left over bits from old projects - a perfect excuse to put one of those bees and that panel of DP to use.

At Always Fun Challenges #197, the theme is your favourite product - something you nearly always use to create.  Apart from my guillotine and Big Shot, without a doubt my favourite bit of kit has to be the Crealies Rectangles Double Stitch XXL-36 set of dies.  I almost always use the third largest rectangle from this set to cut panels for my cards as it is perfect for the A6 card sizes and the C6 envelopes we use in Australia and Europe and they just just take all the guess work out of cutting a card panel (I use the same die to cut the inside as well), the stitching detail gives a nice finish which cuts down on the need for a mat (saving on postage), I can make frames as well as panels and can use the smaller ones for mounting sentiments. 

I didn't make this card with anybody in mind, but even with all the sunflowers and glitter, it could be be given to a male IMO and the Male Room Challenge #146 has an animal theme so I'm entering there.

The Sisterhood of Crafters has a Die cuts and/or Embossing Folder theme this fortnight.

I'm also entering the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge for January.

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I'll know where to find you and can return the favour!

Hugs and stay safe,

Kate

 

Roude Léiw - Red Lion

The Roude Léiw (Red Lion) is the national symbol for Luxembourg and Simon beer is one of many beers made here in Luxembourg.  I always used to take a few bottles over for my dad in Australia - dad enjoyed a beer and as my youngest son's name is Simon it was a little joke between us.  The "bottles" were actually aluminium, not glass so I was less worried about breakages in the suitcase!

I made my bottle using the word processor and MFT Soda Bottle Dies.  I cut and layered up several of the bottle die cuts.  I punched a small hole for a brad in the bottom most bottle.  I then punched a much larger hole in 3 other die cuts, to sink the brad head and then lay the printed bottle on the top.  I added some glossy accents to the completed bottle to give it even more dimension.  Now the little bottle spins on its little checkered table cloth - though I wouldn't recommend doing this with a real bottle unless you've drunk the contents first! 

I spelt out the sentiment with die-cut MFT Bottlecap Letters on die-cut MFT Bottle Caps.  This embossed brick wall helped create the appropriate pub atmosphere I was looking for.

At Let's Squash it Challenge #4, the theme this month is Animals and Embossing Folders.  Since the Simon beer logo is the Red Lion, this is the animal I've gone with.   I picked up the embossing folder at Action and I think the brand was Craft Sensations - there was no title on the folder itself and the packaging is long gone!

The Male Room Challenge #146 also has an Animals theme so I'm entering there as well.

I'm also entering January's Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I'll know where to find you and can return the favour!
Hugs and stay safe,

Kate

Warm Birthday Wishes

 One of my best friends has a birthday soon - we've been friends since our kids started school together over 13 years ago.  She lives in my village and we would often meet for coffee - however, that all changed with COVID!  We've only seen each other a dozen times since March - from a distance and outside.  Having a coffee with her is probably what I miss the most!

My inspiration for this card came from the Fusion Card Challenge with this sketch and Photo Inspiration.  I've turned the sketch on it's side.  I was also inspired by the checked table cloth, the script on the blackboard and the mugs.  My checked table cloth was a new acquisition (Honey Cuts Plaid A7 Cover Plate Top).

I also wanted to play along with Rainbow Challenge #25 - Nothin' but Neutrals - which is why I opted for a brown inside my cup rather than red.

I have to admit I was also inspired by this graphic from The Card Concept though I won't link it there as I shouldn't use two different inspirations challenges.  I was intrigued by the pattern on the cup and embossed mine with an alpine borders embossing folder (picked up just before Christmas but not yet used).

Other Challenges

Cardz4Galz Challenge #138 has the prompt Cocktails, Wine or Coffee.

The Sisterhood of Crafters has the prompt Die Cuts and/or Embossing Folders.

Papercraft Challenges #66 has the prompt Heat or Dry Embossing.

Happy Little Stampers has their Anything Goes with Dies Challenge back up and running!

I've used New Schtuff so will be entering these Challenges

NBUS Challenge #23

Use Your Stuff Challenge #413

Make My Monday Challenge #139

I felt it needed something more so I added a pair of gold mittens and a sprinkling of cinnamon (cut outs from the mittens)!  I'm much happier with it now and as my friend is a knitter I can't think why I didn't think of it before!

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I'll know where to find you and can return the favour!

Hugs and stay safe,

Kate

Twofer Flowers

 

Time to think outside the box and use the same stamp die or stencil to create two different designs for two different occasions.  The challenge prompt for Twofer Challenge #34 is Flowers!

Normally I have trouble finding appropriate stamps or dies for the prompt but this month I was spoilt for choice!  I have pictures of all my SCHTUFF stored in my Photos Library on my Mac - I've built up a database of sorts (I used to work in IT) - and this is normally where I start when planning any card.  A search of my Photos Library revealed I have over 80 flower related stamps and dies -  that's sets not individual stamps or dies.  In the end I chose this Bloomington Border die from Memorybox - I bought it a year ago because it matched one of my favourite Christmas dies (Lydia Ornament) but I still hadn't got around to using it.

Here's a closer look was the first card I made.  I've been trying to do more colouring with alcohol markers in the hope that I'll get better at it with practice.  I used a few pinks and a few greens - trying to bring out the embossed detail on the flower and leaf.  I found this sheet of pink polka dotted DP in the stash which was a good match for the pink in the flower and the reverse side had this script which gave me the idea for this layout.  The sentiment was tricky - not much space.  I toyed with the idea of spelling something out vertically using die cut letters, but what?  I thought of possible occasions and thought to myself "just because" - I've been missing my friends a lot lately!  You can imagine my delight when I spotted this sentiment (again used my Photos library) on a Papermania set I've had for donkey's ears!  It said what I wanted to say and was the perfect size.

Here's the second card I made.  This one was much easier since I had it in mind when I first saw this die at the Craft Fair I where I bought it.  I cut three borders from white pearlescent card stock (it has a stripy wavy effect) and laid them in alternative directions on plain white card stock - they fitted perfectly on this A6 card front.  I then cut the Lydia Ornament in white and red and hung it from silver cord over this lovely background.  This 'joy' die just arrived this week so I placed it under the ornament (and gave it a coat of glossy accents for good measure).

Here's a closeup in an attempt to show the pattern in the pearlescent card stock.

I chose red and white (and grey) because of Colour Hues Challenge #9 - a stunning colour combination which wasn't too Christmassy owing to the grey.

I'm still working through my NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) - some I've only bought recently and some I've had a bit longer.   Luckily there are a few challenges to encourage me in this endeavour at this time of the year!

NBUS Challenge #22

Always Fun Challenge #196 - Something New

SOS Challenge #436 - Whats's New With You?

Make My Monday Challenge #139 -  New in Your Stash

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Something New

Jingle Belles Rock - Something Old, Something New 

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I'll know where to find you and can return the favour!  Hugs and keep yourselves and your families safe!

Kate

Big City Life

This stamp is from the Town House Series by Basement Studios. The designer is a very talented artist of whom I have had the honour of calling a dear friend for over 20 years.  She based her designs on houses she has spotted during her years living in Europe - the two houses here are based on Luxembourgish houses.

When I saw the graphic for Time Out Challenge #178, I immediately thought of these stamps of hers.  The really great thing about Jaine's Basement Studio is that it's only 2 villages away from me.  I placed the order on Monday night and picked up the stamps yesterday afternoon and here's what I came up with this evening - a rainbow of town houses!  I'm no colourist and I have very limited alcohol inks but it was quite therapeutic -  a nice break from home-schooling my youngest this week and the reports of deaths and irresponsibility in the news.  

These are a few other challenges I'm entering (click on the subtitle not the image)

Paper Players Challenge #522

Use Your Stuff Challenge #413 - All About the New

Make My Monday Challenge #139 -  Something New in Your Stash

NBUS Challenge #22

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Something New

Allsorts Challenge Week 605 - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I'll know where to find you and can return the favour!
Hugs and stay safe,

Kate

'Tis the Season to be Wrappin'

 

A few weeks ago, Challenge #72 at The Library had the title Christmas Shopaholic.  I had an idea for it, but not the time nor the tools!  Here is the book cover

I immediately thought of this Stamp and Die set (Sizzix Style is Eternal) because of the shopping bags that come with the set (though adding them to her hand proved tricky!  I had ordered a set of Santa hats in October but they didn't arrive before the challenge ended - in fact they only arrived after Christmas!  Luckily, the Library has an Anthology Challenge where we can pick any previous title from the Library so I got another chance at this title!

I die cut some Christmas gifts in red and silver (XCut Birthday Party set) - I had to do a little selective cutting to get the different sizes and chose a suitable Santa hat for my shopaholic!

I had bought this embossing folder (Craft Sensations) a few weeks before Christmas and I remembered I had bought some Whitewash Core'dinations Cardstock a few years before - about time I used it!  Jingle Belles has challenged us to use Something Old and Something New and that was as good a reason as any to use some of it!  I chose a green sheet and after embossing sanded the whitewashed cardstock slightly to reveal the green underneath.  

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #45 has an "If it's Christmassy, Link it Up" challenge. 

I'm also entering 

Crafty Hazelnut's Challenge #523

Allsorts Challenge #605 - Anything Goes

NBUS Challenge #22 - The embossing folder and Santa hats are both new

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I'll know where to find you and can return the favour!
Hugs and stay safe,

Kate