Sparkling Trees

 

Sparkles Christmas Challenge 175 has just gone live and Debbie has chosen Include a Tree as our theme for the month of August!  These days, I always try to use at least one the many NBUS  (Never Before Used Schtuff or Stash) items that I haven't yet had time or opportunity to use!   For this project, I included two trees from a Charlie & Paulchen set  - Winterliche Bäume which translates to Wintry Trees!  

Wintry trees calls for sparkle and since I still had some of the white glitter card stock on my desk from last month's Christmas Sparkles Challenge, that's what I used!  

The falling snow background was created by using another NBUS set (Snowbanks by Justine Hovey) to cut a black panel which I laid on a white card base.  The snowbank (also from the Snowbank set) was also cut from glitter card stock, as was this "sparkle" sentiment (Creative Craft Sparkle and Shine set)!

I do hope you can join us at the Sparkles Christmas Challenge and are inspired by the rest of the Design Team!  It's never easy making Christmas cards in the summer heat but given how fast this year is disappearing, December will be upon us before we know it!!!

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

NBUS Challenge #77 - NBUS Snowbanks set and Winterliche Bäume set;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #63 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Darnell's IDEAS - anything goes week;

Krafty Chicks Challenge #779 - Anything Goes week;

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #188 - 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 should be able to find you!

Kate

Rise Above

 

Time Out Challenge #294 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 you pick at least 2!

The Word Prompts for this challenge are

Torn, Transport, Star, Stripes, Rainbow and Book

 Challenge 294 is being sponsored by Newton's Nook and they are very kindly offering our top pick as chosen by the design team a $25 store credit!

 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 Bonnie Klass our winner of Challenge #289!  Be sure to check out the Time Out Blog to see how how Bonnie and my talented team mates were inspired by these 6 words!

My design was inspired mostly by the words book and rainbow - The Wizard of Oz was a favourite book (and movie) of my children when they were younger and the classic song from the movie Over the Rainbow is also one of my favourite songs too!  And as I was thinking about the story, I was reminded that the Wizard's mode of transport was hot air balloon so I made up this hot air balloon (Elizabeth Designs Hot Air Balloon with Pop-up set) using some DP with rainbow stars!  

This sentiment (Verve Rise Above) worked well I thought!  I added some clouds (from the same set Elizabeth Dies set) as a "sun" (Memory Box Small Circle Burst) to complete the scene!  The balloon was mounted on a wobble spring so it jiggles a little - a super easy way of making the card a little more fun!

See how easy it is to Pick (at least) 2 - I started with 2 and ended up with 4!  Hopefully these 6 words will challenge you to take some Time Out and join us!

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

Traumfabrik Challenge 141 has chosen the movie Spotlight as it's theme, and as the "sun" is shining on my hot air balloon I hope this works!

The Alphabet Challenge has home as it's theme and as anybody who has ever seen the Wizard of Oz knows, "there's no place like home"!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes;

Darnell's IDEAS - 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

I Saved a Few and I Keep them in a Jar

 

We have a fun challenge for you this fortnight at Time Out Challenges - we would like to see you inspired by Your Favourite Song!

Challenge #293 is generously being sponsored by Lawn Fawn and they are offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design teams a $25 credit to their store!  

 The Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge!   Be sure to check out how my talented team mates were inspired by their favourite songs over on the Time Out Blog!

I have literally hundreds of favourite songs so picking just one of them for this challenge was the hardest part - a bit like asking which is my favourite child 😉!

Have you guessed yet, which song I eventually chose as my favourite?  It's Fireflies by Owl City, particularly a line from the the last verse - 'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar!  I do love this song, it always makes me feel happy when I hear it and as you can guess I've been singing it the whole time I've been planning and making this card!

This song also gave me an opportunity to use this NBUS Fireflies set (Greetery) that I bought almost 2 years ago!  Also this NBUS jar die (Sizzix Thinlits Die Set Jar Of Flowers #665079) which I bought around the same time (possibly I was inspired by the song even back then)!

I wanted a glass jar and I keep any acetate from packaging for just this purpose but this acetate's almost impossible to cut even though it's not very thick so I thought I'd cut the jar from the front panel and lay the acetate underneath the aperture (which also avoided the problem of hiding the foam tape)! Then it was just a matter of raising the panel with foam tape to allow enough space under it for the fireflies and adding the screw-top pieces.

I cut all the fireflies from a snippet of textured card stock - here's a photo I took during the process (though in the end I needed more fireflies) along with the snippet of acetate (packaging from double sided tape) which was perfect for sitting behind the aperture!

I always feel the need to add a sentiment, even if it's only a single word but just what to say eluded me for a while until I remembered I had this "Shine" sentiment (from Creative Craft Sparkle and Shine set).  Well these little lightning bugs certainly do shine and this sentiment works for encouragement, graduation, farewell, anything really!

I think fireflies actually have black wings but I coloured my fireflies' wings using a very light grey and then winked them all.   Here's a closeup of some of the fireflies though they actually sparkle a lot more in real life!

I'm looking forward to reading all about your Favourite Song and how it inspired your creation so I hope you can take some Time Out and come join us!

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

NBUS Challenge #76 - NBUS Fireflies and Jar dies;

Snippets Challenge #510 - see above for snippets used;

Crafty Animals Challenge #96 - Anything Goes with an Animal (insects count);

Word Power July Challenge;

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday June/July 2025 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

Enjoy the Journey

Summer has finally arrived in the Northern Hemisphere and that means vacation time for many - so this fortnight at Time Out Challenges we have a theme challenge of Travel!  So whether it's a particular destination you're headed for (or wish you were headed for), or how you plan on getting there or what you plan to do when you arrive - we'd like to see how you're inspired! 

Challenge #292 is generously being sponsored by Angie Blom Designs and they are offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design teams a $20 credit to their 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 Sherri Schmidt our winner from Challenge #287!  You can see Sherri's creations on her Flickr account here or see what she made just for our challenge over on the Challenge Blog as well as how the rest of the team were inspired!

I wasn't so much inspired by a destination so much as the notion of travel and so was inspired by this lovely old-fashioned suitcase (still NBUS from last year's Advent Calendar from Spellbinders)!  Anything I make these days is usually inspired by what is NBUS - the flaw in my logic is that I also visit the NBUS challenge and come away "needing" more stash, thus adding to my NBUS and so on ad finitum!

 I was lucky enough to find this "snippet" of patterned paper that was left over from cutting card fronts from a 12x12 paper - it was too narrow to use for a card panel for any of the cards I usually make but it was the perfect for a slimline so that too influenced my design.  And the timing was fortuitous since I needed a slimline card to accompany the prize from our previous challenge at Time Out!

I was able to raid my snippets boxes for almost everything else too, I just needed to cut down a card base for the brown mat and an A4 sheet for the card base.  The snippet of white was distressed with Antique Linen and Gathered Twigs DIs - I love the texture of this card stock and thought it would be perfect for an old beat up suitcase!

Here's a closeup of the suitcase!  I don't make slimline cards very often and was a little daunted by all that space but eventually I decided to let the background DP carry the design  (i.e. ran out of time to do anything other than rely on the background paper to carry the design) and just added a single word "enjoy" (Spellbinders Woodland Tales Sentiments) which is also NBUS and actually pretty perfect for what I needed the card for since it is to accompany the prize (a die set) from our last challenge and does anyone else think that suitcase resembles a Tim Holtz Vagabond die cutting Machine?!

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

NBUS Challenge #76 - NBUS Suitcase and sentiment dies;

Snippets Challenge #509 - see above for snippets used;

Paper Players Challenge #PP744 - Tic Tac Toe bottom row (postcards in the DP, layered suitcase, masculine colours) or centre column (plane on the suitcase, only used die cutting, layered suitcase);

Word Power July Challenge;

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday June/July 2025 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

fa la la la la

Sparkles Christmas Challenge 174 has just gone live and Sue has chosen Sparkle and Bling as our theme for the month of July!  These days, I always try to use at least one the many NBUS  (Never Before Used Schtuff or Stash) items that I haven't yet had time or opportunity to use!  So my mind went straight to which of my NBUS items could I make sparkle ... and my eye fell on this Gummiapan Candy Cane Set.   Well, that was in May - then came June (which you can read about here if you're interested) but basically my son and his fiancée were indecisive about their wedding invitations, and then it was a race to get them finished!  The month of June disappeared, it's now days till the end of the month and I'm still trying to make a Christmas card that Sparkles! 

Monsieur Mojo was, as usual nowhere to be found, so I pushed on with my original idea to make up some sparkling candy canes!  Now I know I have some red glitter card stock somewhere around here, but do you think I could find it ... never mind, red mirror card will suffice!  Fortunately, I found some white glitter card stock for the overlay to which I added double sided tape before cutting because I didn't want to risk wet adhesive on mirror card ... it didn't stick very well to the glossy surface of the mirror card but never mind glossy accents will keep it all together and the white glitter will still sparkle through!   

And then I had no idea how to continue!  Well the canes needed a few hours to dry so I went to bed to "sleep on it"!  The next morning while playing around with the canes, I noticed that if I attached the little bow that came with the set to the right facing cane, it resembled an "f"  and if I turned the other can upside down well it resembled an "l" ... and finally an idea began to take hold!   I tried various ornament dies but all I could see was "fo lo lo lo lo" so instead opted for a plain "a" (MFT lower case alphabet)!  And eventually with the help of yet another NBUS item (Studio Light Nested Slimline dies) I had something I could photograph!

Now you're probably thinking there's shine but where's the sparkle?   There is some sparkle (though I wish I'd been able to find that red glitter card stock) and eventually I managed to capture some of it on the terrace in the afternoon sun!   

I also realised when this card was finished, that the little bow could transform the "l" into a "t", now that could be be "sweet" don't you think?!  

I do hope you can join us at the Sparkles Christmas Challenge and are inspired by the rest of the Design Team!  It's never easy making Christmas cards in the summer heat but given how fast this year is disappearing, December will be upon us before we know it!!!

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

NBUS Challenge #76 - NBUS Candy Cane set and Nested Slimline dies;

Everybody Art Challenge #582 - Christmas in June;

Festive Friday Challenge - Christmas theme;

Girls Creative Christmas Challenge #131 - Anything Christmas Goes; 

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 should be able to find you!

Kate

Foxes and Bluebells

was the theme my son and his fiancee chose for their wedding invitations.  They visited us earlier in the month and it was a busy 2 weeks but I managed to get the majority of the invitations finished before he returned to Scotland and the rest finished and posted in the following week.

Here's how I did it

• I found a digital image of bluebells online, lined 4 of them up on an A4 page and printed on vellum suitable for laser printers, then cut the A4 sheet into 4 with my guillotine;
• I cut the card bases and front panels from a sheets of A4 card stock using my guillotine (58 eventually although it started as 44, then 48) - I made pencil marks on my guillotine so I could repeat the cuts without having to measure each time;
• Centred the vellum on the front panel so that the blue bells lined up with the bottom of the panel, folded it over and taped it to the back of the panel with double sided tape and added more double sided tape so it could be attached to the gold mat;
• Cut A4 sheets of gold paper into 3 as mats for the front panel, added the front panels and trimmed using the guillotine (definitely the trickiest stage since the paper would bend sometimes rather than cut cleanly)
• Attached the gold matted panels to the card bases;
• Cut loads of left and right facing foxes (Poppy Stamps Nordic Foxes) in gold and copper and the bases in white;
• Assembled the foxes and, coloured their noses and added them to the front panel;
• Designed the inserts with ceremony details and printed 3 to an A4 page on vellum (my clever husband worked out how I could create a QR code to add to the invitation for directions to the castle - there are plenty of companies willing to provide you with a QR code if you pay money for a subscription but you don't have to pay for this!  The guy who invented QR codes gave the technology away for free and the functionality is available for free through some browsers - QR codes are a great piece of functionality and certainly beats entering a complicated link to a website!
• Cut the vellum inserts to size (again I made pencil marks on the guillotine so I didn't have to keep measuring them) and added them with a dot of glue - I would have liked to add some Nordic flowers to hide the glue dots but alas ran out of time but the glue was barely noticeable;
• Found the most gorgeous "eucalyptus" envelopes with and gold lining on Amazon (yes, they were pricy but matched perfectly the bridesmaids dresses and the green in the bluebells image);
• Created an XL spreadsheet with the names and addresses we knew about and designed a Mail Merge document to create 8 mailing labels to an A4 page and printed these on normal printer paper;
• Added strips of wide double sided tape to the back of the mailing labels and cut with a deckle edged frame and added these to the envelopes (for the addresses we already had) at which point my son realised he need at least another 8 (I made another 12 just in case);
• Designed a separate "business" card with live streaming details (another QR code) for our relatives in Australia and other friends who can't make the journey to Scotland and was able to include a photo from the pre-wedding shoot that had just taken;
• Printed 8 of these cards to an A4 sheet of smooth white card stock, cut these with a deckled frame and went around the edges with gold gilding wax (so happy with how these turned out);
• Cut hearts from gold mirror card for envelope seals;
• Posted the ones my son didn't take back to Scotland with him because we either didn't have addresses yet or weren't for the UK anyway;
• Collapsed from a mix of exhaustion and relief and realised June had almost disappeared!

Invitation Fronts - half were copper right-facing with gold overlays and gold left-facing with copper overlays and the other half were reversed!

Vellum Insert and "business" card for live streaming and those gorgeous envelopes!

This was taken during the construction process.  These foxes were just added for the photo - I attached all the panels to the card bases first ... and all the vellum bluebell wraps before that!  Throughout the construction I kept left and right foxes separated - those saddles pieces were too easily confused and it helped keep track of the number!   If you look closely you can see the double sided tape added to the back of the panels (they're upside down at the back of the larger box) and the card bases at the front of the box.  Even though I used double sided tape, I did use a little wet glue to facilitate positioning.

My son was pretty impressed with the invitations and how quickly I was able to get them done - to be honest I didn't think I would be able to do it especially when he realised he needed extras!  And his friends were pretty impressed too - here are screen shots my son sent me of messages from one of his friends

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you find this useful should you ever have to produce a large number of invitations in a rush - I hope I never have to do this again at least not in such a short period of time!   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