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