Beautiful Bonsai

 

Challenge #246 at Time Out has just gone live and this fortnight it's an Inspired By Words Challenge with this Chinese Proverb

 “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

An Inspired By Words challenge works exactly as you would expect - you take the words from the featured quote and use them to inspire your creation!   You can use one word, multiple words or just the general idea of the quote and if it's not immediately obvious, please explain how you were inspired!  

We're joined this challenge by the very talented Jennifer Elliot as our guest!  Be sure to check out what she and the rest of my talented team members have made to inspire you.  

Obviously the word "tree" was what grabbed my attention, and I have a few trees in my stash, but decided on this very old Bonsai Tree (Spellbinder D-Lites) it's not NBUS but has only been used once prior so thought it could do with some love!  I cut it from a snippet of DP left over from a previous project and stacked it for dimension.   I was at a loss for what else to add to the card as my mojo is nowhere to be found at the moment!  After staring at it for waaaay too long, this was the best I could come up with - a simple "Hello Beautiful" sentiment (WMS Hello Happy Thanks).  With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight vision, it occurred to me a "HUGS" sentiment would have been a better alternative as this tree just looks like it wants to hug someone don't you think?

I used an NBUS detail plate (Pink Fresh Studio Stitched Ovals) to add a little background interest.  I think it's rather lovely - the stamped sentiment was unaffected by the detail plate and I love the subtle tint of green from the card base peeking through! 

Challenge 246 is being sponsored by Varada Sharma  who has very generously donated two $15 store credits - one voucher will go to a randomly selected winner and the other will be go to our Top Pick as voted by the Design Team!   And as always, our Top Pick will be invited to join us as a guest design in a future challenge.  I hope you'll take some Time Out and join us!

I'd like to enter the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #53 - NBUS Sttiched Ovals Detail plate;

Snippets Playground Challenge#461 - Snippet of DP used for the tree;

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

Sing Joy to the World

Time for a new challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and time to add another Christmas card to my stash.  If like me you're struggling to find Christmas Mojo in July,  you might like to check out the challenge and see what inspiration my lovely team mates have come up with!   And do please take time to leave them some comment love if you can - we all like to know our efforts are appreciated!

I placed an order with a UK company last month that stocks The Greetery and this"Noted" die set and co-ordinating "Sing a Song of Christmas" stamp set were in that order (along with loads of other lovely goodies I just couldnt resist).   My plan is to try and mock up some other song lyrics using WordArt in MS Word so I can use the stave die for lots of occasions!  I really like how the song title nestles under the stave and wanted to make a Christmas card for my choir director that incorporated the stave, a suitable Carol from the "Sing a Song of Christmas" stamp set and a nativity scene!  The idea was sound, just the over-complicated execution left a bit to be desired!

The rustic log frame (PTI Mix and Match Plaid) was a questionable choice with a scene from Bethlehem!
If I'd gone with a white card base, I might have got away with that PTI frame!

That vellum overlay just caused more trouble than it was worth - but if you're going to use a frame to hide the adhesive needed to attach vellum, at least choose a frame with a decent width to add adhesive to!

 O well we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes (says she through gritted teeth) and I'm sure my choir director will appreciate the love and effort that went into it anyway!

At least the gilding wax at least is growing on me (though I did look like a Bond villain for a bit there)!  In particular, the word "joy" (Greetery Bold Alphabet) really came alive with the addition of gilding wax. 

Challenges I'd like to enter are

NBUS Challenge #53;

Peace on Earth Challenge #46 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Happy Little Stampers Christmas August Challenge;

Make My Monday Challenge - 3 letters in the word joy;

Use Your Stuff Challenge #491 - the gilding wax added a touch of Vintage.

Thanks for stopping by!  Your visits and comments (especially any constructive criticism) are always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Colourful Candy

 

Time Out Challenge #245 has just gone live and this fortnight the challenge is to be

Colourful

and this seemed like a good opportunity to break out this NBUS Pinata set (Year 7 Lawn Fawn)!

The candy was a little bit of work but not as much as you would think!  The three pieces of candy are all on one stamp and the matching die is just one die which lines up perfectly with the stamp!   

The Pinata and candy were all coloured with various colours of alcohol markers and highlights were added with a white Posca pen.

Lawn Fawn are sponsoring this challenge and are offering a $25 store credit to the winner of this challenge as chosen by the Design Team and our winner will also be invited to join us as a guest designer in a future challenge.  

I hope you'll join our Colourful Challenge and I look forward to seeing you in the Gallery.  If you're stumped, my team mates have plenty of inspiration for you and we're joined this challenge by the very talented Fran Wing of Franmade in Oregon!  Do drop by and say hi!

I'd like to join NBUS Challenge #53; 

Colourful Options August Challenge - Rainbow Option;

The Library Challenge #84 has the following book cover for inspiration!

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

Branching Out

Time for a new challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and time to add another Christmas card to my stash.

This one was a lot of work - I lost count of how many branches (Tim Holtz Winter Foliage) I cut in the end!  But I was quite happy how it turned out.  I added little glass beads in random spots to represent ornaments in the tree and added a shooting star (Love2Craft Sky Elements).  I had a snippet of this blue holographic paper on my desk from the peacock I made last week.  In keeping with this serene scene, I stamped this "Peace" sentiment (Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas) in Deep Lagoon Versafine (the stamp is a reverse stamp) on white and coated it with glossy accents to keep up with the shine from the glass ornaments and the holographic paper.  The background embossing folder is from Craft Sensations.  

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

The 12 Months of Christmas Challenge #103 - Playing with optional twist of Stars (well Star anyway);

Pixies' Snippets Challenge #460 - I used several snippets of white for the branches and a small snippet of the holographic for the shooting star;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #51 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Peace on Earth Challenge #45 - 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

Waving Elf

The challenge for August at  613 The Avenue Create is CAS and we are sponsored by  Conie Fong Art & Design!  I do hope you will join us this month!

I made up this imp (Charlie& Paulchen Wichtelreihe) earlier in the week when I made up this card.  The set cuts 3 imps so it made sense to make up another at the same time.  This friendly fellow looks like he's waving so I couldn't resist adding a "hi" (Greetery Bold Alphabet).

I'd like to enter this happy chappy in the following challenges

Christmas Kickstart #77 - Just Elfing Around;

Christmas Craft Creations July Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes;

Peace on Earth Challenge #45 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #51 - 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

Hello Beautiful Peacock

 

Challenge #244 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and this fortnight we have a theme challenge

 

Monochrome

The Miriam Webster disctionary defines Monochrome as "of, relating to, or made with a single color or hue".   I've chosen blue - mostly because it's my favourite colour but also because it gave me an opportunity to make up this gorgeous peacock (Birchpress Regal Peacock) which is NBUS.

I gathered a few different shades of blue including a rather lovely snippet of blue holographic and set about assembling the peacock.  I used the blue holographic card stock to cut the body of the peacock and I had enough left over to cut this "hello" sentiment (Birch Press Honey Script Hello) which is also NBUS.  The "beautiful" is from a really old stamp set (WMS Hello Happy Thanks) which I stamped with Versafine Deep Lagoon.  

What colour will you choose?  Can't wait to see your monochome creations in the gallery.  If you're stuck, there's plenty of inspiration from my fellow DT members and we're also joined by the very talented Stephanie Serrano  as our guest this fortnight.  You can find Stephanie's work at Stephanie's Stampin' Spot and more frequently on Instagram at @22Stepanieserrano!  Do drop by and say hi!

Challenge #244 is being sponsored by Varada Sharma  who has very generously donated two $15 store credits - one will be awarded to our top pick as voted by the Design Team and the other will be selected randomly!   Our top pick will also be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.

I'd like to enter the following challenges

Cardz4Galz Challenge #204 - Something beginning with "P";

NBUS Challenge #53 NBUS Peacock and Hello dies;

Triple B August Challenge - Just a Bird, no Blooms or Butterflies;

Crafty AnimalsChallenge #75 - All Occasions

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