O Christmas Trees

 

 Here is my project for The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #143!  Yes, another fortnight has passed and we're now past the half way point to Christmas!  With the heat wave we're experiencing, it's difficult to focus on Christmas cards - actually it's difficult to focus on anything! 

I've used a couple of NBUS items in this card - the background embossing folder (Craft Sensations),  the Pines (Memory Box Narrow Pines) and sentiment (Poppy Proper Merry Christmas) so I'd like to enter NBUS Challenge #51.

I specifically chose the yellow and green colour combination so I could enter Color Hues Challenge #66!

I embossed the background so I could enter Inspirational Challenge #292!

I'd also like to enter the following challenges

As You Like It Challenge - favourite non birthday Occasion.  

Christmas is definitely my favourite reason to send a card (it's a great way to remind friends and family all over the world that they still mean a great deal to me even though I've not been the best of correspondents);

The 12 Months of Christmas Challenge #101 - Inspired by a Christmas Song (O Christmas Tree);

Krafty Chicks Challenge #669 - All Occasions

Peace on Earth Challenge #52 - Anything Christmas Goes

ABC Christmas Challenge - L is for Layers (the Pines are 3 levels if you include the bottom layer is stacked plus the stars, plus the embossed background);

Sparkles Christmas Challenge #149 - Trees.

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

Let's Taco 'bout It

 

Challenge #241 has just gone live at Time Out and this fortnight we challenge you to be

Funny!

The tacos in the the Lawn Fawn Year 9 set are pretty darn cute but it was this punny sentiment that convinced me to buy this set - I knew it would be perfect for this Challenge!   Not long after it arrived, that 90s song from Salt-N-Pepa kept going around in my head - "Let's Talk About Sex Baby"!  I thought that topic might offend some and I couldn't see how I could make it work in a card design anyway!  But then I realized that my older brother's name rhymes with that word - and I'm more than happy to talk about him!!!  So that's how this design came about!

I tried to create a Mexican restaurant atmosphere by using a snippet of red gingham for a tablecloth and an embossed brick wall backdrop.   I added some streamers for a festive look and googly eyes because of course he's rolling his eyes at this punny sentiment!

The next two weeks should be fun as our gallery fills up with amusing cards - couldn't we all do with a good laugh right about now??  My fellow DT members have plenty of amusing inspiration for you and we're joined this fortnight by the very talented Claire Apostoloff - so do please pop over and say hi!

Challenge #241 is sponsored by Lawn Fawn and our winner (as voted by the DT) will receive a $25 store credit and will be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge!  

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

Inkspirational Challenge #292 - Designer's Choice Emboss Your Background;

NBUS Challenge #51 - New Stamp and Matching Dies (Lawn Fawn Year 9);

Cardz4Guys #324 - Father's Day;

Daring Cardamakers - Make it Masculine;

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

Charming Paris

 

I was thrilled to be asked to guest design for Traumfabrik (The Dream Factory) this month.  Each month Traumfabrik selects a movie as a prompt to inspire us to create something - and the movie this month is Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain.

I haven't seen the movie but according to Wikipedia, it is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, received widespread critical acclaim with major praise for Tautou's performance, the cinematography, production design, and writing and it was nominated for five Academy Awards. According to BBC Culture, the movie is perhaps the most stylish ever made and describes Amélie Poulain as "a waitress with a big imagination". 

Here is the Official Trailer  on YouTube.  Of course you don't have to watch the movie or even the trailer - you might be inspired by the movie poster or anything Parisienne ... or anything French for that matter!  Perhaps a French sentiment or something typically French!

Nothing quite says French and in particular Paris like The Eiffel Tower and I may have one or two Eiffel Tower images in my stash (in fact I think I have 6 but I may have missed one or two)!  For my project today, I've included an Eiffel Tower charm from a NBUS set (Elizabeth Craft Dies Hanging Charm Pull Tab).  After stacking the charm for sturdiness, I double embossed it with Woven Tapestry Embossing Powder to give it a metallc appearance.  Then I cut small and medium tags (WMS Stitched Tags) and stamped them with French sentiments from a Katzelkraft set (French Quotes).  I then hid a magnet on the back of the larger tag so that it could be attached and detached from the card and used as a bookmark.  Here it is with the tags detached - there's another magnet under that globe.

This card will be going to my great nephew in Australia born last month.  It may be a few years before he will be needing a book mark, but I hope it encourages a sense of adventure!  Coincidentally, when this post goes live it will be exactly 33 years since my first trip to Paris and the Eiffel Tower in particular where I was finally able to call home to Australia from the Eiffel Tower Visitor Centre and learnt of the safe arrival of his mother - aah the good old days before mobile phones or even internet!  

I'd like to enter the following challenges

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge prompt is Lots of Layers

NBUS Challenge #51 - as mentioned, the charm die set was unused;

As You See It Challenge #300 which has an Adventure/Travel theme;

I was also inspired by the muted tones, machinery and metallics in the following photo inspiration from The Card Concept Challenge Challenge #197a

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

Ho Ho Ho

Time for a new challege at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Card Challenge and hopefully inspire you to get your Christmas card stash built up before December!  

Some time ago I placed an order with Gummiapan and they slipped a lovely little santa hat die in as a thank you gift - it wasn't even a large order!   You may have heard of Gummiapan from Christine Stokes.  I had a few dies already, owing to the fact that one of my crafting buddies is Swedish - the dies have amazing details but I must say, Chrissie really brings the magic!  Watch any of her videos to see what I mean!

Last year during December, her enthusiasm was infectious as she opened a Gummiapan Advent calendar envelope each day and made a made a project using the contents within.  The calendars for 2023 have just been made available for preorder but only until August 15th ... needless to say, I ordered mine!!!   31 limited edition dies - how could I resist!  Of course I'll (hopefully) have all my Christmas cards done by December, so I'll be able to play with the little daily surprises - I have no idea what the contents will be, but judging from Chrissie's daily videos last December I am sure to be delighted!!! 

Anyway back to my card, I had a snippet of patterned paper with various santa heads and I thought I'd highlight some of them with little santa hats cut cut with this Gummiapan Santa hat die.  I cut them from deep red, and again in white, snipped off the brim and the pom pom and added them to the red hats - the dies  make this easy for you with only a few places you need to snip!

I chose an area of the DP that had some suitable Santa heads and cut it down to size (with a stitched rectangle die) so that those santas were centred.  I added the santa hats, matted the panel and added it to a partially embossed background panel for interest with a simple Merry Christmas sentiment!   As it sat there, it occurred to me that the little round santa heads resembled the letter "O" and as there were three of them, I die cut some "H"s and spelt out santa's favourite catch phrase - "HO HO HO"!

I'd like to enter the following challenges

Inkspirational Challenge #291 - Seasonal

Snippets Playground Challenge #456 Snippet of DP with Santas;

NBUS Challenge #51 - The hat and embossing folder were both NBUS;

Peace on Earth Challenge #41 - 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

You're an All Star!

A new challenge has just gone live  and it's time to take some Time Out of your busy schedule and come play cards with us again.  Challenge #240 is a theme challenge - the dictionary definition of sportive!

Here's what Google has to say about the word sportive!

spor·tive¹

/ˈspôrdiv/

adjective

1. 1.

   playful; lighthearted.

   "Sir John was in sportive mood"

   Similar:

   playful

   lively

   full of fun

   fun-loving

   high-spirited

   spirited

   in high spirits

   jolly

   merry

   lighthearted

   blithe

   gleeful

   frisky

   exuberant

   perky

   skittish

   sprightly

   coltish

   jaunty

   prankish

   frolicking

   romping

   capering

   full of beans

   frolicky

   frolicsome

   gamesome

   blithesome

   frolic

   wanton

   ludic

   Opposite:

   solemn

   staid
2. 2.

   relating to, interested in, or good at sport.

   "Britain's architectural and sportive heritage"

   
   

So  you might want to go with the definition of 'playful and light-hearted' - whatever that means to you or stick with the more obvious definition and make up something to do with sports!   If the connection to the theme isn't obvious please let us know how you were inspired - you may have thought of something that we all missed and we love to find out how our challenges inspire you!

If you're stuck for inspiration, pop over to the Time Out Challenge Blog and see what the rest of the design team has come up with and we're joined this challenge by the very talented Carol McFarland and her blog is well worth a visit!

Challenge #240 sponsored by Newton's Nook who have very generously donated a $25 Gift Certificate to be awarded to the winner as chosen by the design team.

I started heading in the general direction of sports related!  I bought this set earlier in the year and it ended up not being needed for what I originally intended but I knew it would come in handy!   My youngest son turns 19 next month!  He had a similar pair of shoes a few years ago - he has to wear special shoes so something that resembled Converse All Stars was pretty cool as far as he was concerned!   

I had considered "these boots are made for walking" as a sentiment but then the song All Star popped into my head so I spelt out the much simpler sentiment of "Hey Now" (using the very sportive MFT Varsity alphabet)!  All Star is one of his favourite songs - used in two of his favourite movies (Shrek and Rat Race) so it seemed appropriate  - plus he really is an all-star (always positive and never lets his cerebral palsy get him down)!

Getting the levels right was a bit of a challenge- because I used real cotton for the laces I needed to use foam tape to attach the top shoe to the bottom shoe and the bottom shoe to the card front.  Here'e a side on picture so you can see the layers of foam tape.  Luckily it doesn't need to go through the mail - they really are high tops now!

 

I added pops of yellow so I could enter Traumfabrik Challenge #116!

I'd also like to enter the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #51 - the sneaker set is NBUS;

Cardz4Gyz Challenge #323 - Lots of Layers - the top shoe was 3 layers plus it was added to the bottom shoe (2 layers) which was added to a panel which was added to the card base;

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