Shell Ahoy

 

Challenge #291 at Time Out has just gone live and this fortnight we have another

Photo Inspiration Challenge

Here's a closer look at this gorgeous piece of art from Alyson@romantheocean!

 Challenge 291 is being sponsored by Frantic Stamper and they are very kindly offering our top pick as chosen by the design team a $20 store credit and the Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge!  

Be sure to see how my talented team mates were inspired by this pic over on the Time Out Blog - I do hope I'll see your creations in the gallery and and I look forward to seeing how you're inspired!

I chose a scallop shell (Memory Box Grand Scallop Shell) because it most closely resembled a heart shape and distressed it with Spun Sugar and Antique Linen Distress Inks.  I added some coral to resemble the reeds in the pic and a few shells in the lower right corner (all from Charlie & Paulchen Ozeankranz).  And I was happy to use this NBUS sentiment (Sugar Pea Ahoy Word with Shadow) finally!

Everything was "winked" (though it's difficult to tell from the photo) to give that salt encrusted look!

I am grateful for and would like to enter the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #75 - NBUS Ahoy Die;

Snippets Challenge #508 - How lucky was I to have this perfectly sized snippet (with double sided tape on the back) left over from cutting an oval frame (I even managed to get another piece of coral cut from the middle of the brown after this photo was taken), the same for this snippet of white (could have even cut some more shells if I'd had time);

Everybody-Art-Challenge #581 - Maritime;

Papercraft Challenge #119 - Summer Vibes (collecting shells on the beach is my best memory of summer as a child - can still remember the smell of the sea when I think of sea shells);

As You Like It Challenge - To add a sentiment or not - I definitely like to add a sentiment because I don't think a card is complete without it, even if it's just a simple "hugs" or "hello";

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

Parisienne Delights

 

Time Out Challenge #290 has just gone live and it's one of our new challenges for 2025 - a Pick 2 Challenge! 

The concept of a Pick 2 Challenge is self-explanatory - we give you 6 word prompts to choose from and you use at least 2 of them to inspire your creation!  To be clear, you can pick more than 2 if you like - all 6 if you really want to challenge yourself but just make sure to pick at least 2!

The Word Prompts for this challenge are

Recycle, Weather, Ribbon, Bold, Repeat and Place

We don't have a sponsor this challenge but I have a brand new die set (ordered twice oops) which I will send anywhere in the world to our Top Pick as chosen by the design team members!  Here's a photo of  this 23 pce die set from Sizzix - Garden Shed by Sophie Guilar!

And as usual, our 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 Jaydee our winner of Challenge #285!  Be sure to check out the Time Out Blog to see how how Jaydee and my talented team mates were inspired by these 6 words!

I do hope you enjoy our 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!

This card is a very belated birthday card for my daughter-in-law!  My son took her to Paris to celebrate her first birthday as his wife so I knew I wanted a Parisienne theme!  I found this very old but still NBUS stamp set while looking for all things Parisienne in my stash (Just Rite Greetings from Paris)!  I don't know why I never used it before because it stamped beautifully and makes a very simple add-on element when paired with the matching Spellbinders Label 25 die!  So Paris became the PLACE!  And of course no trip to Paris would be complete without the Eiffel Tower - cut from brown card stock and Winked (though the sparkle is as always difficult to capture)!

The first thing I noticed on this stamp was Le Chocolat and as I got some new sweetie dies with the Gummiapan Easter Advent Calendar, I thought I'd add a few of those cut from this piece of RECYCLED (from an old Christmas cracker) gold card stock!  

 Then as I was assembling the card I smudged the background panel - uggh what could I use to hide that 🤔!

   

Inspired by the WEATHER prompt, I thought clouds may very well be obscuring the top of the Eiffel Tower!  At this point the design was decidedly unbalanced so I added some ferns (Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms) REPEATED of course, to the base of the card!

So 4 Word Prompts achieved on my card - PLACE, RECYCLE, REPEAT and WEATHER!  But as I said it's only necessary to Pick 2!

I am grateful for and would like to enter the following fabulous challenges

NBUS Challenge #75 - NBUS Stamp Set, Gummiapan Sweeties;

Neglected Stuff Challenge June 2025 - Neglected Eiffel Tower (from Spellbinders French Frills die set) bought in 2013 last used 2018 and Just Rite French Frill stamp set bought 2015 and NBUS;

Snippets Playground - Snippets above;

Shopping Our Stash Challenge #549 - You are So Sweet!

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

Merry Forest

 

Sparkles Christmas Challenge 172 has just gone live and Melanie has chosen Include the word Merry as our theme for the month of June!

I don't think I'll ever get to the bottom of my NBUS (mainly because I keep adding to it) but it's fun to try!  I was playing with this 3D embossing folder (Sizzix Trees by Kathrin Breen) last month!  The first time I cracked the card stock so I remembered the trick of dampening the card stock slightly before embossing and that worked!  

Since the prompt for Sparkles was to use the word Merry, I thought I'd use this rather elegant Merry Christmas die I ordered from Gummiapan late last year.  However because it's so wide the orientation really needs to be landscape and as I wanted to use it with this embossed panel, I thought about leaving the "Christmas" off after fiddling a bit I tried the sentiment diagonally and this is what I came up with!    

I added a tree (Yvonne Creations Family Christmas Window) to the lower right corner because it was a little too plain! And then went over everything with the Wink of Stella Pen to make it sparkle! 

I know it seems strange to make Christmas cards in June but this year is flying by and it will be December in no time!  So I hope to see your "Merry" Creations in the gallery over at the Sparkles Christmas Challenge!

 I am grateful for and would like to enter the following fabulous challenges

NBUS Challenge #75 - NBUS embossing folder, Merry Christmas Text die;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #62 - Anything Christmas Goes;

As You Like It Challenge - My Favourite Type of Embossing is definitely dry embossing!

A Cut Above June 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 should be able to find you!

Kate