Aran and Tartan

 

Challenge #134 has just gone live at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and here is my DT card!  It's never too early to make a start on next Christmas - you will be so glad when you have all your cards ready well before December rather than a last minute scramble!  If you're running out of ideas, my team mates have created some wonderfully inspiring Christmas cards so be sure to pop over and check them out!  And we love to be inspired by your creations as well so I look forward to seeing your Christmas cards in our gallery!

I had some snippets of tartan and gold as well as some fir trees (Alexandra Renke Fir Tree Frames) left over from previous projects that I wanted to use up.  After grounding the trees on the snippet of tartan, I thought some interest was needed behind the trees so I used this cable knit embossing folder as a cozy backdrop!   One of the snippets of gold was just big enough for a "merry" (WPlus9 Hand Lettered Holiday die set) and that finished off the panel which I then mounted on a forest green card base.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges

Snippets Playground Challenge #448

 ABC Christmas Challenge - C is for checked (tartan) base and D is for the die cut trees and sentiment

Jingle Belles RockChallenge - Embossable You

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

Kate

Hip Hip Hooray!

Challenge #232 has just gone live at Time Out and it's a special one - we challenge you to Celebrate our 9th Birthday!

It's 9 years Sandie and Nonni started this fabulous challenge and to celebrate Sandie is joining us as our very special birthday guest, so do pop over and say hello to Sandie and leave her some love!

We also have the desert diva herself Hannelie joining us as our guest designer.  At the top of Hannelie's blog, she has a quote from Milton Glaser "There are three responses to a piece of design - yes, no and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for."  Prepare to be WOWed!

Last week I was reminded that I had bought the magnificent Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms Die Set as a birthday present last year but hadn't actually used yet!  As soon as I saw this die set used in a card, I just "had to have it" and then promptly forgot about it - to be fair I did have six weeks in Australia just after it arrived followed by Christmas!  

Anyway, I sat down this week and cut and assembled a bunch of blooms in various pinks and purples.  I raided my snippets for the blooms and foliage and added distress inks for depth and variegation. 

My choir director turns 50 next month and she loves flowers .... and her piano of course!  I thought the flowers would look stunning against the black and white of piano keys (Memory Box Piano Border).   I also thought the Bohemian Detail Plate would add just the right amount of detail in the background.  I laid the panel above the border die on a folded A4 card base and trimmed it down - I needed a larger than usual card because everyone in the choir will want to add their own wishes for our beloved leader and these magnificent blooms deserved the space this afforded!  As a result, it's an odd-sized card but it doesn't have to go in the post and I'll just deliver it in an A5 envelope or make one to fit!

This challenge is being sponsored by Newton's Nook Designs.

There's a very generous $25 Store Credit being offered to our winner as voted by the DT plus an invitation to guest design with us in a future challenge!   

How will you our 9th Birthday Celebration theme inspire you - I'm looking forward to viewing your lovely creations in the gallery - you have until March 1st to come play cards with us!  Pop over to Time Out where my team mates and two special guests have some lovely designs waiting to inspire you!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges (the link is under each of the photos)!

NBUS Challenge #47

Snippets Playground Challenge #447

Flower Challenge #77

Seize the Birthday Challenge #255 
My initials are K and L
Keys (Piano) and Leaves

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

Kate

Tumbling Snowman

Challenge #133 is about to go live at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and here is my DT project - a Tumbling Snowman!  I love to make these spinner cards and I love to play with them afterwards.  This snowman stamp with matching die is from Craft Sensations.  I coloured his nose orange and his scarf red and added glossy accents to these and his hat and coal buttons.  I also stacked him up three times for stability - I didn't want those outstretched arms getting damaged during his acrobatic routine!

To make him tumble, I cut a track in this lovely buffalo plaid panel and popped it up on foam tape.  The cut out track piece I then adhered directly to the card base.  I added a magnet to the back of the snowman and created a spinner back by adhering another magnet to a 1" acetate disk (I reuse packaging).   The spinner back is therefore invisible but anchored in the track.  The snowman can be removed easily and used as a fridge magnet.   Tip : place the disk between the two magnets else the magnetic field may be stronger than your adhesive!  Use a flat magnet (1mm thick) and a fat magnet (3mm thick) - here's a photo of the flat magnet, the acetate disk and the fat magnet!

I kept the card design simple by just adding a die cut "sending" (Simon Says Stamp) above the snowman and "homespun hugs" (WMS Sewing Box Hugs stamped on black and heat embossed in white) below.  You can just tell by looking at him that this guy likes hugs and the buffalo plaid is so cozy and homespun!

Here he is in action?

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

Kate

Colouring is Cool

I am finally overcoming my fear of colouring - in fact I think I've done a pretty"cool" job on this one!  But that could have to with the image being coloured.  This is Sadie with Icecream from Mirtallamente - who  are sponsoring our challenge this month at 613 The Avenue Create.  

I've coloured her using alcohol markers.  Don't ask me what colours - I had a lot out on my work space by the end of this session!  I'm not sure I achieved the faded denim look I was going for with the dungarees -  I'm a little short on blues (note to myself, get some more)!

I had to jazz her up a little with some red accessories because the optional theme this month is "something red that is NOT a heart".  She looks so cool, I knew I wanted a pair of red sunnies to complete the look!  As I was applying some glossy accents to the glasses, I also added a touch to her earrings, scrunchie and bangle!

I framed her with an A2 sized frame set that I rarely use because I prefer the metric A6 size but I love the scalloped frame in this set.  I paired a sentiment from Clearly Besotted Super Cool) with a Word Balloon (Poppy Stamps) and was delighted that it fit perfectly!  I shadowed the sentiment speech bubble with a red one and popped it up on dimensional foam tape. 

The Word Balloon from Poppy Stamps was a present to myself before Christmas and is having it's first outing here so I'd like to enter the NBUS Challenge 47.

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

Kate

Like a Rainbow

Challenge #231 at Time Out Challenges has just gone live and we have a treat for you this fortnight - we're CASEing a Gina K card!

Here's a closer view

If you're unfamiliar with CASEing, Ardyth Percy-Robb has a nifty acronym for helping you take inspiration from someone else's work and make it your own - LIMES!

List

Include

Modify

Exclude

Spin

I'm not going to go into too much detail, but the things that I loved about this design  were the rainbow colours, the lacy white floral pattern, the black mat, the stamped sentiment in black and the slimline band of colour.

To make this card my own, I've used die cuts rather than a stencil!  I started by cutting six Altenew Mixed Leaf plain leaves from white card stock and blended them with various distress inks - Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin, Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers and Dusty Concord.

I stacked them each up 3 times for stability and coated them with glossy accents.  When dry I overlaid them with this lacy die cut also from the Mixed Leaf die set and arranged them in the opposing corners of a slimline panel (Creative Craft Products Slimline Stitched Straight Edge die set).  

This left a small area in the centre for a sentiment.  The bright colours of the leaves inspired me to go with this Shine BRIGHT sentiment (from Verve Rise Above Stamp Set) mounted on a Colwell Label from Poppy Stamps (this too was stacked and I used dimensionals so it stood above the leaves.  

I added some some pearls which I coloured with some rainbow coloured alcohol inks.

This challenge is sponsored by Gina K. Designs who are offering our winner as voted by the Design Team, a generous $25 Store Credit.    So I hope you can take some Time Out and join us this fortnight.  You have until the 15th February to link up your entries and we can't wait to see how Gina's card will inspire you!

I'd like to enter NBUS Challenge #47 because the Altenew Mixed Leaf Die set was a Christmas present to myself and the Slimline Stitched Die was a belated birthday present!

I'd also like to enter my Rainbow coloured card into the Colorful Options Challenge for February 2023.

I'm so grateful you stopped by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments always brighten my day!  If you do leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate