Sparkling Deer

Sparkles Christmas Challenge 170 has just gone live and Billie has chosen Christmas Critters as the theme for the month of March!

One of the most useful items I bought last year was this 3D-embossing folder (Sizzix 663613 Folk Art Pattern) the has added gorgeous texture and interest without detracting from the elegance of my Christmas Critter (Poppy Stamps Nordic Deer).   

Actually this is a redo of a previous design with much cooler stash than I had at the time - the deer, the banner (Spellbinders Make it Merry Sentiments Dies) and the "Sparkle" (Creative Craft Sparkle and Shine sentiment die).   

The banner die was another really useful item - it's a four die set with interchangeable sentiments.  So you can have a plain banner or any of the 3 sentiments included in the set - Jingle All the Way and Make it Merry are the other sentiments.   What I really love about this die set is the ridge that forms a border around the banner when the sentiment die is inserted ... also no poking required!

I cut the banner and lace collar from this lovely gold glitter paper I saved from a Christmas Cracker.

And once I'd cut and assembled the deer, I sprinkled glitter onto wet glossy accents for some real sparkle.  I did the same for the stacked "sparkle" sentiment.

I'd like join the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #72 - NBUS Nordic embossing folder, sentiment banner, "sparkle" sentiment;

Snippets Challenge #500 - Sneaking in with my gold snippets and hoping the Christmas theme, sparkle and touches of gold are celebratory enough

Crafty Animals Challenge #92 - Use an animal on your creation;

ABC Christmas Challenge - C and D - D is for die cuts;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #61 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Festive Friday Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes;

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes;

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Thanks for visiting, I hope you go away a little inspired!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and will try to find you!

Kate

Birthday CASE

 Challenge #283 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and this fortnight we are celebrating Time Out's 11th Birthday with a CASE of the fabulous Donna Mikasa.  Donna's work can be seen on her blog Three Umbrellas and there is always loads of inspiration to be had so I strongly suggest you consider following her!

Here's a closeup of Donna's lovely card!

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 this is the list of things I loved about this design (and included) 

the diagonally cut panel

the stencilled flowers

the overall dry embossing 

the sequins

the central sentiment panel with the scalloped border!

I modified the colour scheme and my spin (literally by 90°) was to make my card portrait!

The stencil I used was NBUS - it came with the Spellbinders Advent Calendar last December.  I have given stencilling a fairly wide berth till now (despite the many beautifully stencilled creations I've seen of late) but this CASE seemed as good an opportunity as ever to roll up my sleeves and challenge myself and of course use some NBUS stash!

This challenge is sponsored by Gina K. Designs who are offering our winner as voted by the Design Team, a generous $25 Store Credit.    

The Top Pick as chosen by the Design Team 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  Jacinda of LazzieJ's Crafting Corner - our winner of Challenge 278!  You can also see how   and the rest of the team have CASEd Donna's card over on the Challenge Blog!

So I hope you can take some Time Out and join us this fortnight.  You have until the March 12th to link up your entries ... we can't wait to see how Donna's card will inspire you!

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

NBUS Challenge #71 - NBUS Embossing Folder and Foliage dies;

Can You Handle the Pressure February Challenge - embossing, no masculine twist;

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes;

Triple B February Challenge - Blooms only;

Twofer :

This is what my first the stencilled attempt looked like.  I had to cut the panel down because of smudges and the one of those pink spots hides another!  Still I'm glad that I could save it and pretty happy with the way the card turned out in the end!  The foliage in the background was cut from dies included in the Spellbinders Advent Calendar as well as some from an older Be Bold Blooms set.  The banner sentiment is also from the Spellbinders Advent Calendar - I'm getting a lot of use out of that calendar!

I'd like to enter my 2nd card in the following challenges

Seize the Birthday Challenge #300 - No Stamping;

Crazy is our Fame Stencils are our Game February Challenge - Stencils + Pinks and/or Reds;

The Sisterhood of Crafters Challenge - Red or Pink;

A Cut Above February Challenge - Anything Goes (with a die cut);

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 should be able to find you!

Kate

In the Bag

 Challenge #282 has Time Out has just gone live and this fortnight it's an Inspiration Photo Challenge!

Here's a closer look!

This challenge is generously sponsored by Kim Heggins of Running Stitch Design.  Kim is offering this lovely bag as a prize for 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 Arlene Rose of Sunday Stamper - our winner of Challenge 277!   Arlene and the rest of the team have plenty of inspiration for you over on the Challenge Blog!

I used an old Cuttlebug embossing folder (Snowflakes) to emboss a panel of black card stock and an NBUS 3D Textured Impressions folder (Sizzix 664509) to emboss some red card stock.    Unfortunately, I decided after this to use nested dies to cut the pieces down to size which flattened the patterns a little!   However the patterns are still visible and I do prefer the rounded edges of a die cut panel to the rough edges of an embossed panel.  I added the red panel to the black with a slightly taller panel of white in between to create a border between the black and red.

As a nod to the little zip charm, I added a stacked snowflake with a gold centre.  This large "Let it Snow" sentiment (Avery Elle Let is Snow Die set) seemed like the obvious choice.

I did add Wink of Stella to the sentiment and snowflake but this proved difficult to photograph!

I'd like to enter the following fabulous challenges

NBUS Challenge #71 - NBUS Embossing Folder;

Little Red Wagon Challenge #794 - Red Alert;

Can You Handle the Pressure - Anything Goes Optional Flocon de Neige (snowflake);

Kraft Chicks Challenge Week 2 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Word Power February Challenge - Focal 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 should be able to find you!

Kate

Christmas Tea

Sparkles Christmas Challenge 169 has just gone live and Melissa has chosen Christmas Tea as the theme for the month of February!

Julie Tilman gifted this digital stamp set to her Verve fans many (many) years ago!  Most of the sentiments in the set refer to coffee, but I figured this one could just as easily be referring to tea if I added a pair of tea cups (Marianne Designs LR0462).   The font looked a little Art Deco so I used a retro die (Memory Box Matinee Rectangles) to cut it out.  

To make the cups of tea look more realistic, I cut the cups from white and pink patterned paper with the intention of removing the tops of the pink cups (the rim and "inside").  There is an embossed edge for the curve of the rim goes but no cut lines so I carefully placed my pink die cuts over the upside down dies - lining up the embossed curve with the top of the die!   Then I just adhered the pink cup bases onto the white die cuts.  Obviously tea isn't white so I coloured the "contents of the cup" with an alcohol marker.  

While I don't think a sprig of holly would add much to the flavour of the tea, it definitely made my cuppas look more festive - I'm a firm believer that you can make anything look festive by adding a sprig of holly!

I added a little background greenery (Tim Holtz Winter Foliage) and the sentiment panel was mounted with foam tape.

I recently bought my first Wink of Stella Pen and once the card was assembled, I thought I'd add some sparkle to the holly leaves.  Unfortunately I discovered the hard way that when the pen is primed for its first use, quite a lot of glitter comes out and it's gold, not clear!  I was a little annoyed with myself for not trying it out first and ruining my carefully blended holly leaves but since there's no point crying over spilt glitter, I thought I'd embrace the gold look and went around the rims and handles with the "gold" wink of Stella too.

Here's a closeup of the cups

 

I'd like join the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #70 - NBUS My Cup to Yours Digital set from Verve;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #60 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Festive Friday Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes;

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes;

Love those Pretty Papers Challenge Feb 2025 Challenge - Anything goes with patterned papers;

Krafty Chicks Challenge #753 - Anything Goes;

Thanks for visiting, I hope you go away a little inspired!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Warm as Toast

Time Out Challenge #281 has just gone live and it's one of our new challenges for 2025 - a Pick 2 Challenge!  

There will be 6 Pick 2 Challenges thoughout the year and for each of these, there will be 6 words for you to choose from.  We would like you to pick 2 of these words to inspire your creation but you can pick more or even all 6 if you feel like a challenge!

The Words for this challenge are

Stitch, Layer, Heart, Food, Warm and Love!

This challenge is generously being sponsored by Newton's Nook and they are offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design teams a $25 credit to the store!  The Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge!

Speaking of guest designers, our guest designer this fortnight is Marcia Hill!  Be sure to check out Marcia's lovely interpretation of our quote and of course my talented team mates over on the Time Out Blog!

For my card today I've used 

a Stitched Frame;
some Layered die cut images (Greetery Hearts at Home Toaster and WMS Coffee Set matching dies);

loads of Hearts;

 some Warm toast (Food);

and a whole lot of Love!  

So I managed all 6 but as I said, it's only necessary to Pick 2!

I do hope you enjoy our new challenge and I do hope you can take Time Out and join us for some fun!  And please, if it isn't obvious let us know how these words inspired your creation!  And please remember we only allow a total of 5 challenges - ours plus 4 others!

A kind fellow crafter shared the tin wall plaque image many years ago - it's only taken me 7 years to get around to using it!  Sorry I can't remember who it was but if you're reading this thank you!  I used MS Word to size it to fit my smallest plain square die (3cm), added glossy accents and mounted it with foam tape.

I'd like to enter the following fabulous challenges

Snippets Challenge #498 - Snippets used for everything except melamine counter top, panel and base;

Thank God It's Friday Challenge #509 - had some wonderful inspiration

Cut It Up Challenge #322 - Have a Heart

NBUS Challenge #70 - NBUS Greetery Hearts at Home Toaster;

Die Cut Divas January Challenge - use something new (new Toaster die set from Greetery);

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 should be able to find you!

Kate

January Thanks

Challenge #280 at Time Out Challenges has just gone live and this fortnight we have an Inspired By Challenge!  This fortnight we would like your project to reflect Your Favourite Things to Do in January!

This challenge is generously being sponsored by Lawn Fawn and they are offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design teams a $25 credit to the store!  The Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge!

Speaking of guest designers, our guest designer this fortnight is Verena Shapiro!  Be sure to check out her gorgeous interpretation of our quote as well as my talented team mates over on the Time Out Blog!

So, what do you like to do in January or what would you like to do?  Personally I like to play with all the fun stuff I got over Christmas and the other thing I like to do in January is thank people for their thoughtful gifts!  This year I bought the Spellbinders advent calendar so I've made up this card using a few of the little surprises within it - Day 4 (Banner),  Day 5 (Spiral Border used for texture on the vase) and Day 8 (the vase with flowers)!   

I do hope you can take Time Out and join us for some fun - I'm looking forward to reading what you like to get up to in January in your part of the world!

I'd like to enter the following fabulous challenges

Snippets Challenge #497 - Snippets used for everything except panel and base;

NBUS Challenge #70 - NBUS Vase, Banner, Border;

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday January Challenge - Anything Goes!

Die Cut Divas January Challenge - use something new (all new dies);

Triple B January Challenge - Just blooms, no birds or butterflies!

TWOFER

I couldn't resist making another while I had the die set out - this time using the Happy Birthday Inset for the banner die!

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 should be able to find you!

Kate

Window To The New Year

 

Happy New Year!  Challenge #279 has just gone live and this fortnight we are welcoming 2025 with a theme challenge of Beginnings

 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 Ellen Coats 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!

The Beginning of a New Year is how I was inspired by Beginnings and I made this card to welcome in 2025 - though I'm still scratching my head and wondering what happened to 2024!

I pulled out this lovely window die (Poppy Stamps Gothic Arched Window) and added foam tape so it would sit higher than the "wall"!   This die didn't leave a lot of space on an A2 panel for a sentiment but one of the sentiments from an NBUS set I bought earlier in the year (Concorde and 9th Season of Cheer) fitted perfectly on the window sill!   

Of course, you can't celebrate the New Year without fireworks and I cut these from various snippets of iridescent card stock that I'd been saving up just for this purpose (unfortunately I didn't have the presence of mind to photograph said snippets in my rush to finish all my Christmas crafting and tidy everything away to make room for my guests and have somewhere to all sit down together on Christmas Day).  The fireworks die was bought from Amazon and is unnamed.

So here's to Beginnings - whether that be the beginning of a new year, a new relationship, a new baby or something else entirely!

I'd like to enter the following fabulous challenges

NBUS Challenge #70 -  The sentiment die was NBUS;

Snippets Challenge #496 - Snippets of iridescent card stocks used for the fireworks;

In{k}spire Me Challenge #552 - New Year Special;

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge  - Something New

Daring Cardmakers - Word prompt of "HAPPY" and fireworks always make me Happy and the promise of a New Year!

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

Cosy and Warm Christmas

 

Happy New Year!  I hope Santa was good to everyone and you enjoyed your Christmas break in the company of your loved ones.

Sparkles Christmas Challenge 168 has just gone live and it was my turn to choose the theme this month and I have chosen

Cozy and Warm

which gave me the perfect opportunity to use this cute fireplace die (Poppy Stamps Whittle Fireplace) that I've been wanting to break open for over 2 years now!  The sweet "whittle" mouse was included with the set which gave me the idea to use this sentiment (WMS 'Twas the Night Before Christmas).   The stockings (Poppy Stamps Whittle Stocking) were bought at the same time (because they're perfect together) and are also NBUS.

The fireplace body was cut from Kraft card stock and coloured with alcohol markers, the mantel was cut from brown card stock as was the fireplace "grill".  The flame and mouse were cut from white and coloured with alcohol markers.  The stocking bodies were cut from some snippets of tartan and the fur trims were cut from white felt.  All die cut pieces were stacked at least twice - it makes such a difference to the finished card!

The sentiment wasn't a good fit for any of my labels and was going to use the partial cut technique when I had the idea to use another snippet of tartan to fill in the blank lower third of the label.  I'm quite happy how it turned out and I think I'll use this solution again!

I'd like to enter the following wonderful challenges

NBUS Challenge #70 - NBUS Whittle Fireplace and Whittle Stocking;

Day of the Month Club Challenge #70 - National Sock (hopefully stocking counts) Day;

Allsorts Challenge Weeks 812-13 - Use Your Dies;

Papercraft Challenges #113 - Under the Mistletoe (Christmas related);

Peace on Earth Challenge #78 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Festive Friday Challenge;

Thanks for visiting, I hope you go away a little inspired!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate