Fantastic Mini Beast!

Challenge #258 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and we have a brilliant Photo Challenge to inspire you!  

This challenge is 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! 

Here's a closeup of our Inspiration Pic - our challenge starts on February 29th and we thought this little guy might be just the thing to jump start any flagging mojos!

  

How does this little guy inspire you?  If nothing springs to mind, you might like to hop over to the Challenge blog and see how my talented team mates were inspired - you're bound to find plenty of inspiration there!  

This challenge we're fortunate to have the extremely talented Vicky Dutcher as our guest designer but we're also a little sad as we're saying goodbye to Gerrina who is hanging up her DT cap after 10 years on the Time Out Team!  

 For me, it was hard to get past those huge bulging red and I knew immediately what die I wanted to use -  this funky insect from Tim Holtz!  After stacking and adding a little DI shading, I added glossy accents to all parts of his body and once they were dry, I assembled him.  Once the "helmet" is on there are eye cavities (at least that's what they look like to me) and I added more glossy accents to just this section because I wanted big bug eyes.  I added glitter while it was still wet and once dried, I added another coat of glossy accents so the eyes really bulged!  

Here's a closeup of my beetle!

I then cut a bunch of monstera leaves using various dies from a light green card stock and blended Mowed Lawn DI to give them some depth and laid them over a panel of black.

I was a bit stumped at this stage, until I remembered that English people refer to bugs as mini beasts and then of course I just had to go with this fantastic die (Verve Amazing Adjectives) as a nod to the Newt Scamander films Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  I'm also thinking of adding "friends like you are hard to find"!  What do you think, too much??

Well this guy is a little hard to find, despite his red legs and bulging eyes - I did go a little overboard with the monstera leaves didn't I!  I almost binned it, but my lovely team mates suggested I persevere and I'm happier with it after I reworked my beast (lots more glossy accents) and added this fantastically glossy red sentiment! 

There's nothing worse than cutting up a perfectly good card base-sized piece of card stock unnecessarily, so I do keep all small pieces of card stock in bags sorted by colour and they come in handy for projects like this where I need a lot of small die cuts.  I raided the red and green bags for this project so I'd like to enter the Snippets Playground Challenge #474.  Here are some photos of my snippets (I needed a lot more green in the end as I did cut rather a lot of leaves).

I'd also like to enter these fab challenges

Allsorts Week 769 Challenge - Things that fly (pretty sure those wings aren't ornamental);

Shopping Our Stash Challenge #516 - It's Not Easy Being Green;

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says Anything Goes this week!

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

Christmas Left Overs!

 

Time for a new challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge so I've made a new card for the stash and this one completely from leftovers and stuff I've had hoarded for way too long.

This background panel (Memory Box Celeste Plate) was a failed attempt at a colour challenge last year.  Initially it was yellow on green  - and I have to say it was pretty hideous!  I probably should have binned it but it was a lot work and materials and sometimes I hold onto things to remind me NOT to do that again!  Anyway, I had the idea to go over the whole panel with gilding wax and see if I could resurrect it and I'm much happier with it now!  

I wanted to add a stamped sentiment and I found some lovely printed vellum I've been hoarding for about 15 years now.  But the problem with vellum is how to attach it so you don't see any adhesive!   To solve that problem I created a small frame (this die actually had tulips in the frame but I trimmed them out and will use them later).   I carefully laid the frame over the printed vellum that  and trimmed off the excess - now I had a place to hide the adhesive!  I carefully stamped my sentiment using a stamping platform - I thought I might need Stazon but Memento worked fine!   Then I just added a poinsettia bloom from my leftovers box ... et voila.  I love vellum and I think the printed vellum adds a little something extra but the sentiment is still very much readable!  

The Flower Challenge #88 suggested I "add a heart" so I added a few - Christmas is a great time to share the love after all!

I'd also like to enter these fab challenges

Triple B Feb 2024 Challenge (no Butterflies or Birds, just a bloom this time);

Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round February Challenge where the theme is Hearts;

 Peace on Earth Challenge #58 - Anything Christmas Goes;

NBUS Challenge #59 - The Celeste Plate is NBUS!

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

Time Out Turns 10!

Challenge #257 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and it's a big one - we're celebrating our 10th birthday!  

To mark this special event we have a birthday theme and 10 generous sponsors providing 11 fabulous prizes. We will have one challenge winner chosen by the Design Team who will receive a $25.00 Lawn Fawn Store Credit (and will be invited to be a guest designer in a future challenge). Ten additional winners will be chosen at random to receive the prizes in the order of their listing.

Our wonderfully generous sponsors are:

Altenew - $15.00 Store Credit

Doodle Bugs - $25.00 Store Credit

Birch Press - $20.00 Store Credit

Gina K. Designs - $25.00 Store Creditt

Lawn Fawn - $25.00 Store Credit

Newton's Nook - $25.00 Store Credit 

Picket Fence Studios - $25.00 Store Credit

Topflight Stamps - $25.00 Store Credit

Uniko- $25.00 Store Credit

Varada Sharma - $25.00 Store Credit

I do hope you can take some Time Out to join in our birthday celebrations!  Remember though, if you want to be eligible for a prize, you need to follow the challenge rules

1. link up to a maximum of 5 challenges - i.e. ours plus 4 others only!
2. create something new - no back linking allowed!
3. enter a maximum of 5 times!
4. have fun!

We are joined this challenge by former co-owner of Time Out, Sandie Munro of London Days,  as our Guest Designer and you can also check out the rest of the design team here!

I'm using the fabulous Altenew Layered Anemones on my birthday card and I've grounded it with the Birch Press Linear Triangle cut from gold mirror card.  This sheet of green card stock was a lucky find while rooting around in a corner of my craft room I hadn't explored for a while!   It was smooth enough to stamp  the sentiment and even emboss with gold embossing powder but has a lovely brushwork texture!  

I have been meaning for some time now to try using vellum for one of the layers of this gorgeous bloom having seen it used on similar layered blooms on Pinterest.  The trick is to use foam tape to elevate it above the base layer.   It was tricky adding enough for support and ensuring it wasn't visible but worth the effort I think!

The Flower Challenge #88 suggested adding a heart so I added a tiny one to the top bloom on the vellum - a little heart shaped dew drop!  I tried adding one on the other bloom but it started looking like a wedding card yet didn't look balanced without it - so I added another off to the side of this bloom! 

I'd also like to join these other fab challenges

Double D Challenge Heartfelt Challenge - anything with some hearts;

Allsorts Challenge Week 767 - Hearts;

Try it on Tuesday - Hearts and/or Flowers;

Triple B Feb 2024 Challenge (no Butterflies or Birds, just a bloom this time);

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

Cozy Christmas Snowman

Challenge #256 has just gone live at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge.  I know it's a bit early to start thinking about Christmas but it's always good to be prepared!

Isn't this little guy cute!  Best of all I attached him to the card front with an action wobbler so he shivers.

  

I was inspired by the Jingle Belles Challenge to use a lot of red on the card!

I was also inspired by Bastel Traum Challenge #128 to use a snowman on my card.

I was also inspired by the red berries in this inspiration pic from Four Season February Challenge to create a lacy border.

I've used new dies (Poppystamps Nordic Snowman and Nordic Borders; Gummiapan Nesting Labels) so I'd like to enter the NBUS Challenge #59!

I'd also like to enter Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything 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

Roll out the Barrel

 

If you've read some of my last couple of posts, you'll know I signed up for the Gummiapan Advent Calendar last December.  I was so inspired by the fabulous dies inside and by the YouTube videos of Deb Hallet and Christine Stokes that I may have gone and purchased a few more of the Gummiapan dies - ok a lot more!  They're very addictive (the level of detail is amazing) - but they're also not expensive!

I bought the keg die specifically with my husband's birthday in mind (he has a thing about wooden barrels).   I cut both parts of the 2-part die from Kraft card stock but added gilding wax to the overlaid die cut so that the hoops had a metallic appearance.

Hubby also enjoys a glass bottle or two of red wine so I created a personalised label for him using MS Word.  Some of it's barely readable - even with my glasses on but it doesn't have to be readable to look convincing!   

The sentiment stamp is also from Gummiapan.  Gummiapan stamps are all unmounted rubber stamps.  I had hesitations about a rubber stamp because I've become fairly reliant on my stamping platform and I wasn't sure whether an unmounted rubber stamp would work.  It did, I just put a little Pritt on the back and treated it as if it were a clear polymer stamp.  And wow it stamped beautifully - I had forgotten how crisp an image from a good rubber stamps can be. 

I've used an embossing only die (Gummiapan Wooden Floor) on the base of the panel to ground the scene.  I also distressed the panel above the floorboards with white ink - probably should have done that before I stamped the sentiment.  To create a little interest on the wall of this old cellar, I used another embossing die (Gummiapan Brick Wall).   While these embossing dies don't actually cut away, you can snip them away quite easily - which I've done here to reveal a recessed brick wall.   

I can't wait to play with more of these amazingly detailed dies.

I've used snippets of red, green, Kraft and acetate to make the card so I'd like to join Snippets Playground Challenge #472

I'd also like to join these fabulous challenges

NBUS Challenge #59 - new dies and sentiment stamp;

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes;

Seize the Birthday #276 - Kraft plus one other colour 

(as I've used red and green, it will be no topping for me this challenge)!

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

Wonderful Mess!

 Challenge #256 at Time Out Challenges has just gone live and this fortnight we are CASEing the fabulous Sarah Gray - former Time Out DT Member and owner of Funky Fossil Design!

Here's a closeup of Sarah's card so you can see it in finer detail!

Funky Fossils are sponsoring Challenge 256 and are offering a very generous £25 gift certificate to our Top Pick as chosen by the Design Team.  As well as this wonderful prize, our Top Pick will also be invited to be our guest in a future challenge!

We are joined this challenge by Carol Mc of  Saw it. Had to Make It - our Top Pick of Challenge #253.  Do please check out the awesome inspiration from Carol and leave her a little love while you're there!  You can also check out Carol's inspiration along with the rest of the design team herehere!

For those unfamiliar with CASEing, there is a nifty acronym coined by Ardyth Percy-Robb for helping you take inspiration from someone else's work but making it your own - L I M E S!

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 image itself (all the painting paraphernalia)
• the chaos of creativity (splattering and spattering) 
• the design is essentially confined to two corners and still has a lot of white space
• the use of a mat to draw the eye toward those hues on the panel

As you can see, I've made an A2 rather than square card (square cards cost about 5 times as much to send here).  I've still used two corners but my design has been rotated to the right by 90º and I've replaced the colour chart in the upper left corner with my sentiment (which is why I had to rotate the design by 90º).  I had wanted to use a long thin piece of text from a Tim Holtz Flights of Fantasy set, but I have turned my craft stores upside down and I can't find it, so I've borrowed this Carabelle Studio Wonderful Life set from my good friend Lena - obviously I didn't want it reading sideways!

 I've created my arty "mess" with some very old stamps (WMS Splat That, WPlus9 Inksplats) but also teamed them up with some brand new dies that came with the Gummiapan Advent Calendar I ordered last year.

The paint brushes were cut a from off white card stock multiple times to build up the dimension and the brush ferrule (just found out that's what the metal part of a paint brush is called) was cut from a snippet of silver card stock and laid on top.  Various alcohol markers were used to colour the brush handles and paint dipped bristles.

I like the added texture and dimension of using the stamps with the die cuts.

 I've used bolder colours than Sarah and replacing that dusty pink with orange (used an orange mat too).

I used Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink (blue), Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink (yellow), Lady Bug Memento Ink (red) and Mustard Stazon Ink (orange) for the ink splatters. 

I've loved analysing and CASEing Sarah's card and hope you get a chance to play along with us for this special challenge.

Since the paint set was NBUS, I'd like to join NBUS Challenge #59;

I'd also like to join Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything 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