You Got This!

Challenge #248 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and it's an extra special one!  October has traditionally been a time to acknowledge Breast Cancer, but our challenge theme has been expanded to acknowledge all kinds of cancers, chronic illnesses and other diseases that affect us and/or our loved ones - for which greetings of friendship, encouragement and support are so important to share.

Jane of Jane's Doodles has designed a gorgeous image just for this Time Out Challenge!  You're free to download it and use it to make a special support/encouragement card for a loved one  - all the details are on the Challenge blog.  

Jane's Doodles are also sponsoring this challenge and our Top Pick as chosen by the design team will win 3 digis from the Jane's Doodles Website and will also be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.

We are joined by the talented Jaydee of Stampin! with Jaydee as our guest for this challenge - do please drop by and say hi from me!  And if you need some inspiration, my talented team members have plenty over on the challenge blog!

October 6th is World Cerebral Palsy Day.  Some of you may know my youngest has cerebral palsy.  His is very mild, affecting only his left side and he can walk albeit a little awkwardly.  Some colleagues and I have just started a CP support group and this will be our first opportunity to celebrate World Cerebral Palsy Day after establishing the group.   It's also the 30th anniversary of the Info-Handicap association  in Luxembourg and there is a big event being organized this weekend at which our group will have a stand so I thought I'd make some cards for the event.

The colour green has come to be associated with Cerebral Palsy and my son had a pair of specially made high top shoes a few years ago so these two things influenced my design.  I chose two mostly green patterned papers to make up my cards - of course I couldn't resist adding a bit of pink to the feminine version!  Apart from the patterned papers, the rest of the shoes were made from scraps.  I stitched the laces to make them look more authentic using embroidery floss and a blanket stitch (so the lacing would sit straight).

This is the feminine version - I want a pair of these!

And this is the masculine version!

I used two different coverplates  (Simon Says Stamp Detail Bohemian Coverplate and Pinkfresh Stitched Diamond Coverplate) to add some quick background interest after I had stamped this sentiment (L'il Inkers Coffee Talk 2).   Then added the shoe to the panel with foam tape and mounted the panel onto the card base with more foam tape.   I cut larger stars from the patterned papers for envelope seals (or envelope decoration).

And here's a bunch of cards ready for sale on the weekend!

I'd like to enter the following challenges

Just Us Girls Challenge CAS Week #698;

Snippets Playground Challenge #463  - here are some of my snippets;

NBUS Challenge #54 (the Stitched Diamond Coverplate was NBUS);

Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies September Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments always bring me joy and are always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Polar Expressions II

Time for another Holly and Ivy Challenge and time to add another card to my stash.  This is a redo of a previous design from a few years ago.   I cut these two bears (Amy Design Winter Friends) from white card stock and then from white felt and stacked them up so my bears have a lovely fur coat to keep them warm on the long winter nights up at the North Pole.  I added small black circles (cut with various flower centre dies) coated with glossy accents for their noses - I had tried to colour their noses with black markers but that didn't work out very well as you can imagine.  I added depth (or at least tried to) with just a little broken china DI around the edges of the bears and the snow bank.

The shadowed sentiment (Poppy Stamps Proper Merry Christmas) was cut from black card stock, coated with glossy accents and sprinkled with holographic glitter in keeping with this starry night DP panel.

Here's a cloeseup so you can see the details on the sparkly sentiment and the fur coats on the polar bears! 

I'd like to enter the following challenges

Alphabet Challenge Blog - L is for Literature and this is the book cover that inspired my card;

Just Add Ink Challenge #670 - Just Add Wildlife;

Crafty Animals Challenge #76;

Krafty Chicks Challenge #681 - Week 2 Christmas;

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make it Cute;

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Die Cuts;

Happy Little Stampers September AG with Dies;

Happy Little Stampers September Christmas Challenge;

Merry Little Christmas Blog Challenge #52 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Peace on Earth Challenge #48 - 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

Hoppy Birthday

Challenge #247 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and it's an Inspiration Photo Challenge!

Here's a closer look at all that Fall Fabulousness!

This challenge is being generously being sponsored by Lawn Fawn and they are offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design team a $25 voucher to their store.  

Our top pick will also be invited to guest design with us at a future date so I hope you will take some Time Out of your busy schedule and come play cards with us!  

Where will our inspiration photo lead you, what has grabbed your attention - I 

can't wait to seeing how you will be inspired!

The autumnal colours, particularly that orange tent were what caught my eye and I pulled out this NBUS Lawn Fawn Acorn House to begin with.   The musical instruments gave me the idea to add a grass hopper from A Bug Deal (also NBUS) because I love the sound of grasshoppers (not too crazy about the actual critters mind you)!  And of course he's going to hop right over that little house ... so I went with a spinner card and a "Hoppy Birthday" sentiment!

I used another Lawn Fawn set (Puffy Clouds Border) to cut some cloud stencils from a sheet of repurposed acetate packaging and used these to create my blended sky then cut a curved spinner channel in this.  I stamped and embossed my grasshopper and coloured him with alcohol inks and added some highlights with a white Posca pen.  Can't you just hear his "wheeee" as he sails over the house?

I cut all the pieces for the acorn house from Bristol Paper and coloured with various DIs.  The Acorn body I coloured with Carved Pumpkin DI and then overstamped it with a woodgrain stamp from my stash.  The door and roof were coloured with Ground Espresso and Gathered Twig DIs and the computer generated sentiment was cut with one of the first dies I ever bought (Spellbinders Small Tag S3) and distressed with Gathered Twig DI.  I coloured a little bit of twine with Carved Pumkin DI and used it to attach the little sentiment tag around the stalk of the acorn.  I also added yellow vellum behind the windows.

The grass was cut from Bristol Paper using another NBUS set (Lawn Fawn Meadow Borders) and  coloured with Mowed Lawn DI.   I cut some leaves using the Acorn House set and blended with Mowed Grass, Apple Red, Carved Pumpkin and Gathered Twig DIs - and yes my fingertips and nails were a lovely mess!  I cut the dinky little keyhole for the door from a teeny snippet of gold mirri card - I now have a reason to keep even the really teeny snippets of gold now!

 

Challenge #247, we're joined by the extremely talented Trina Pham as our guest designer and her blog is well worth a visit as well as those of my talented team mates!

I'd like to enter the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #54;

The Four Seasons September Challenge;

Simons Says Wednesday Challenge - Make it Cute is the theme and Lawn Fawn = cute!

Snippets Playground Challenge #462 

- the leaves were cut from a snippet of card stock that I'd blended with various autumnal tones for a previous project and of course there was a snippet of gold for the key hole!

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

Sweet Christmas Pudding

 If like me you're starting to get nervous about how fast Christmas is approaching, you might like to give your Christmas Mojo a boost with inspiration from my talented teammates over at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and share your Christmas creations with us as well - we could all do with some inspiration!

This newly acquired Christmas Pudding die (the Greetery) was so much fun I made up 4!   I cut the pudding from kraft card stock, blended Ground Espresso DI, splashed with water and blotted with paper towel.  

The icing layer cut was cut from white card stock and I went over it with glossy accents and sprinkled glitter for sparkle.  

The set comes with a little serving plate, a beautiful big bow and holly leaves and berries.

Just look at all that sweet detail!

 I stamped Christmas Wishes (2 separate stamps from WMS Say it Loud Winter) directly onto some plain white panels.  It was a bit of a pain lining up these tiny stamps but I used a stamping platform so only had to do that once for the four panels!  

The "sweet" die cut sentiment (Love 2 Craft Home Sweet Home) was cut from striped DP and stacked  and coated with glossy accents for some shine.

I do hope you'll join us this fortnight and I look forward to seeing your festive creations in the THICC gallery!

I'd like to enter the following challenges

The Library Challenge #84 - with the following yummy inspiration;

Christmas Craft Creations August Challenge - CAS;

NBUS Challenge #54 - new Christmas Pudding Die Set;

Alphabet Challeng - K is for Kitchen (anything Food Related);

Little Red Wagon Challenge #724 - Small Holly Berries, Large Word Die;

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - anything goes;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #52 - anything Christmas goes;

Peace on Earth Challenge #47 - 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