Festive Trees

 

Challenge #162 has just gone live at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and here is my DT Card.

Sometimes inspiration can come from unlikely sources and I have to give a shout out to the gang over at  Inspired By ... Challenge Blog!  They have some great inspiration pics and this one from earlier in the month really helped jump-start my flagging mojo! 

The umbrellas made me think of upside down Christmas trees and these dies (Poppy Stamps Nordic Tree Toppers) in particular - they’re NBUS and I've been wanting to use for a while now.   And I must say, it was nice to make some bright and cheery Christmas cards for a change - after all the majority of my Christmas Cards do head down under where it's often 40 degrees in the shade around Christmas time/!  I never would have thought to use yellow with the red and green for Christmas, but the combination  does look quite festive - so this sentiment (Waltzing Mouse Stamps Compliments of the Season 2) was perfect!  I was worried about stamping onto this highly textured surface but it worked out fine (with a stamping platform).

I'd like to enter these fab challenges

NBUS Challenge #61 - the tree topper dies are NBUS;

Kraft Chicks Challenge Week 4 - All Occasions;

Peace on Earth Challenge #61 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Rudolph Day April Challenge - 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

Hogs and Kisses

Challenge #262 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and this fortnight we have an Inspiration Photo Challenge for you!

Here's a closer look!

This challenge is being generously being sponsored by Kim Heggins of Running Stitch Design.  Kim is offering this cute bag to our Top Pick as chosen by the Design Team (inside USA only - thank you for understanding).   Many of you will remember Kim as a former Design Team member at Time Out!  

The Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge!  Speaking of guest designers, we are joined this challenge by Cornelia Wenokor of Stempel Spass, our winner of Challenge 258!   Cornelia and the rest of the team have plenty of inspiration for you over on the Challenge Blog!

Three things immediately caught my eye - the gingham lower third, the spots and the dogs.  While wrestling with how to use one of the two dog dies I own, my eye fell upon this NBUS pig (Poppy Stamps Whittle Pig) and I then remembered I have the Whittle Wild Animals Sentiment set and gradually, the design began to take shape - replacing dogs with hogs and spots with hearts, three whittle pigs seemed like a good number to have with a fourth heart space for the sentiment.   I don't usually make slimline cards because the envelopes are tricky to find, but this card will fit in a DL envelope!

I couldn't find any black gingham (at least not large enough for a slimline card front) but I did find this rather lovely plaid which I cut with a slimline die (Creative Craft Products Slimline Sewing Edge Nesting Set) and then used a suitable heart die to make the four windows for my whittle Pigs to pop their heads through!  There was a hint of green in the plaid, so I used this olive green card base rather than the teal used in the bag.  The pigs were cut from pink pearlescent card stock (because I had a snippet of that lying around on my desk) that I distressed with Worn Lipstick DI.  I cut extra snouts for dimension and gave them a string of pearls each (how could I not??) and added some glossy accents to the stacked snouts!

So that's how I was inspired by this cute little bag, where will it lead you - looking forward to seeing your projects in the Time Out Gallery!

I'd like to enter the following Challenges

NBUS Challenge #61 -  NBUS Whittle Pig and Slimline set;

Crafty animals Challenge #82 - Anything Goes with an animal;

Snippets Challenge #478 - Snippets of pink pearlescent card from a previous project;

Challenge #62 Day of the Month Club - National Look Alike Day;

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

A Fitting Wedding Card

 

We're half way through Time Out Challenge 261 and as this card I just finished for a friend works for this challenge, I thought I'd share it with you today!   

Challenge #261 is all about this quote

"I'm a romantic!  I live for long, dreamy walks down the craft aisle"!

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.  Whereas my previous card focused on the word "Craft", this card focuses on the words "Romantic" and "Aisle".  

I used a jigsaw die (Stampin Up Love You To Pieces) to emboss a piece of white card stock (using a tan embossing mat), which I then cut down with a heart die.  You lose a little of the detail from the embossing by doing it in this order but I prefer to have the rounded edged of the die cut rather than the ragged edges from the embossing.  I then used the puzzle die to cut three more puzzle pieces from cream card stock and one from black.  I cut a v in the top of the black piece and added it to one of the cream pieces.  Then I stacked the other two pieces, added pearls along the "neckline" and the two pieces fit together perfectly.

The names of the bride and groom and the wedding date were cut from gold paper with Gummiapan Alphabet and Number sets - I really love the quirkiness of the font ...  and the size!  

I liked the design so much I made up some others without names for an upcoming market in June!  They can always be personalised as needed!

How do these words inspire you and where do they lead your imagination?  We hope you can take Time Out of your busy schedule to come play cards with us!   

I'd like to join these fabulous challenges

AAA Card Challenges #263 - Wedding/Anniversary Card;

Die Traumfabrik Challenge #127 - They cloned Tyrone is the featured film and my card uses the same puzzle piece with one turned 90º);

Crafty Chicks Challenge #712 - Week 3 CAS;

NBUS Challenge #61 - NBUS Love You To Pieces set!

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

Cuppa Love

Challenge #161 has just gone live at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and I thought I'd make a Christmas brew for this challenge - who doesn't love a cup of hot steaming Joe on a Christmas morning!  I cut one of the layers from a Christmas print vellum that I've had in stash for way too long.  I also recycled some gold foiled paper from a box of chocolates that was too pretty to throw out.

The "sending" was cut from brown card stock and gilded with gilding wax.   The other words (WMS Sewing Box Christmas) were stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa and overstamped with Brilliance Galaxy Gold, then cut with nested stitched rectangles (using the partial die cutting technique so the words fitted perfectly).

The Cup of Love set is new so I'd like to enter NBUS Challenge #61!

I'd also like to enter these fab challenges

Caffeinated Christmas Challenge for April - Coffee or Cocoa;

Kraft Chicks Challenge Week 3 - Christmas;

Ellibelle's Craft Wednesday April Challenge - Anything Goes;

Dragonfly Dreams April Challenge - Use a die;

Sweet Stamping Challenge - Earth Day (recycled gold wrapper) and stamped sentiment!

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

Living in a Material World!

 

Not quite what Madonna had in mind when she penned Material Girl perhaps, but perfect for a good friend of mine who likes to sew!   

Perfect for Challenge #261 at Time Out Challenges as well because this fortnight we have an Inspired By Words Challenge with this little quote which will no doubt appeal to anyone who loves shopping for new stash!

"I'm a romantic!  I live for long, dreamy walks down the craft aisle"!

Definitely guilty here - I sometimes think my love of card making comes a close second to my real hobby of buying new dies, stamps and interesting papers!  

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.  For example you could choose the word "romantic" or the phrase "down the aisle" and make a wedding card!  Please explain how you were inspired - especially if it isn't obvious!

 This fortnight we are generously being sponsored by Doodle Bugs and they are offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design team a very generous $25 store credit and our Top Pick will also be invited to Guest Design with us in a future challenge.  

Speaking of guest designers, we're joined this challenge by the very talented Milla of Mustesormi as our guest!  Be sure to check out her gorgeous interpretation of our quote as well as the rest of the team on the Time Out Blog!

How do these words inspire you and where do they lead your imagination?  We hope you can take Time Out of your busy schedule to come play cards with us! 

Naturally, my penchant for shopping for stash inspired me to create a birthday card for a good friend of mine who also likes to go shopping for stash - although her addiction is to fabric and wool!  

These dies are all Gummiapan - most of the elements were cut multiple times, snipped apart and stacked up to create dimension.  I cut the table and shelf from Kraft card stock and added gilding wax - there were 4 layers to the table!  I cut the sewing machine from black and added gilding wax so that it resembled my mum's old black and gold Singer machine.  The bolts of fabric were cut from Kraft and again from snippets of patterned paper (I just snipped away the end bits of the patterned papers and overlaid them onto the Kraft).  "FABRIC" was cut from Kraft and then again from one of the patterned papers I used for the bolts of fabric.  The die I used for the floor boards doesn't cut through - you can snip it away easily enough, but I thought it was enough detail to ground the scene and I preferred to leave the whole background white. 

After assembling my elements and creating a little scene I was at a loss for something to say - I know, not like me at all!   So I went through all my sentiment stamps to find something (other than a plain boring "Happy Birthday") that might work.  I was about to go with "Make Today Great" when I spotted this sentiment from the Verve Cupcake set - the set includes a bunch of sayings that can be used with the word Cupcakes (or it's related sets Coffee and Chocolate) and I realised all I needed to do was spell out fabric and it would be perfect!  

With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight vision, I should have placed the "FABRIC" on the floorboards - the top half is way too crowded!  

I'd like to enter the following Challenges

NBUS Challenge #61 -  NBUS Gummiapan dies - Sewing Machine, Sewing Accessories, Slim Table, Hanging Shelf;

Snippets Challenge #477 - Snippets of patterned papers used for the fabric bolts;

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday Challenge for April - Anything Goes;

Fab'n'Funky Challenge 593 - Add a Sentiment.

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

Deer Whittle Fallows

 

Challenge #160 has just gone live at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and here is my DT card.

Last week, I found a pad of patterned vellum papers that I couldn't resist buying mainly because of this tartan one - I do love tartan for Christmas cards and I do love vellum!  I cut a frame from cream card stock using the two largest dies in the Pink Fresh Essentials Diagonal Stitched Rectangles set and laid it over the vellum and trimmed the excess which gave me a place to hide the adhesive so I could add it to the card base.  

The deer (Poppy Stamps Whittle Forest Deer) were cut from cream card stock and coloured with alcohol markers.  I cut just the noses from some brown card stock and added a little glossy accents to make them shine.  The heads were mounted on foam tape.  I would have loved to add the heads on wobble springs but the wobble springs I have were too large for the heads (I wonder if smaller ones are available 🤔)

I'd like to enter the following challenges

NBUS #61 - The Whittle Forest Deer are NBUS;

Crafty Animals Challenge #82 - Anything with Animals;

Alphabet Challenge Blog : Z is for Zoology;

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes;

Kraft Chicks Challenge KCC#709 - All Occasions;

Christmas Craft Creations March Challenge - Use Designer Paper;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #55 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Sparkles Christmas Challenge #159 - Non-Traditional Colours;

Girls Creative Christmas Challenge #66 - 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