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

Blossom Wreath

 

Challenge #235 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and we hope you'll be able to take some Time Out and join us again this fortnight!   This time around, we have a photo inspiration challenge for you!

 If like me, you've been suffering from Mojo in Absentia of late, this may very well be the cure!  At first I didn't know where to start - my eye was initially drawn to the bike and the splashes of yellow and green.  Then I noticed the pots and the sign and the box with the blue writing, then the metal canister on the white stool, and the gate and then of course the white, glass-paned door!  And then I noticed the pretty wreath hanging on the door and the lovely loopy 

"hi" 

and that was it for me - I knew immediately what direction I wanted to head in!  Then it was just a matter of how I'd create my wreath and what flowers I'd use!

I used a Charlie & Paulchen die to create the wreath - it's NBUS and I'm on a mission to actually use stuff the I buy, which is quite a task as I have very little self control and keep buying new stuff!  It's actually a coral wreath called "Ozeankranz" and includes a multitude of amazing little sea creatures (including a mermaid) but they will have to wait a while longer to be used!  

For the sentiment, I wanted to emulate the script of the "hi" rather than the actual text itself and this Birch Press Honey Script Thanks was the perfect size for this card front!

The flowers are blossoms from a really old Spellbinders set called Cherry Blossoms - it usually gets an outing at this time of year because below is what's happening outside my kitchen door!

 

As a transplanted Aussie, the seasons in Europe never cease to amaze me!  Miracles like this happen within 2-3 days of when they're supposed to - no matter that the weather has other ideas!

Here's another closer look at our inspiration photo!  How does it inspire you?  Ready to take some Time Out and join us?  I'm really looking forward to seeing your creations in our gallery!  My very talented team mates have plenty of inspiration (should you still need it) and Toni Maddox of Frankie Helps Craft has joined us as our special guest - why not drop by and say "hi"!

I'd like to thank our generous sponsor Doodle Bugs who are offering a $25 store credit to our Time Out Winner as chosen by the Design Team!  They carry most of the popular brands and have years of experience in the paper crafting industry!  

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

NBUS Challenge #48

Cards 4 Galz Challenge #195 - Spring Flowers

Make My Monday Challenge #197 - P is for Pink

Try Stampin' on Tuesday Challenge #599  - Use Large Words or Text

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 I can find you!

Kate

Elegant Leaves

Time Out Challenge #233 has just gone live and this fortnight, we are challenging you to be

Elegant!  

I immediately thought black and gold and this gorgeous Altenew Leaf Mix Die Set!   I searched through my pads of foiled papers and found this elegant cream with gold stripes.  I cut a stitched rectangular panel then set about cutting some leaves from gold and black snippets and arranging them on the panel. I was able to use some of the overlay cut out pieces to fill in the blank space between the leaves and I used a scattering of faceted black pearls until I was pleased with the layout.  I realised as I was clearing up afterwards,  that the cutout circles from the middle leaf could also have been used - with a few applications of glossy accents they're almost indistinguishable from flat backed pearls and much more post-friendly!  Needless to say I've stored these little circles away for a future project - little black circles always come in handy!!

I needed a thank you card and this small but very elegant little "thanks" from Verve Autumn Thanks (sadly Verve is NLIB) fitted the space under the leaf arrangement perfectly - again cut from a snippet of gold!   I used one the elegant overlay dies from the Leaf Mix set and more snippets of gold to decorate the inside and envelope. 

 What does elegant mean to you?  We’d love to see your interpretation in our gallery!  This challenge is sponsored by Altenew and our winner, as voted by the DT, will receive a $25 store credit.  They will also be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.  Details are over at Time Out as well as heaps of inspiration from my  fabulous fellow DT members and our very talented guest designer Nora Noll from A Creative Touch.   Why not pop over for a visit with Nora and say hi - you’ll find tons of gorgeous inspiration!

Just a few challenges I'd like to enter are

Paper Players Challenge 629 with the following sketch

Inspirational Challenge #284 - Real or Faux Stitching - my panel has faux stitching

The February Sisterhood of Crafting Challenge - My panel has stripes

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments always brighten my day!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Give Thanks

 

Two weeks ago I was on a roll.  I was working on this card (my third Autumn spinner card) while my sister was keeping my mum company in Australia.  We knew mum didn't have long, they had refused her surgery the week before because they didn't think her heart could take it, and my sister was very anxious that night, so I was trying to keep her calm (she hadn't slept properly for days).  I showed her this card I was working on and she said it was very pretty (she loves purple and I had added that purple cornflower for her).   She said she was worried about the noises mum was making and I suggested she get a nurse to turn mum and then try and get a bit of sleep.

I kept working on the card - strange how doing something like this can bring you comfort, even if only temporarily.  I had added more flowers and foliage to this card so was looking for a sentiment that fitted and using which label since I could no longer stamp directly on the panel (forethought is not my middle name).  In the end, I went with this simple "Give Thanks" sentiment embossed with WOW! Mandarin powder on Kraft card stock.  I just finished it when my sister called me back with the news that mum had passed.

As I sat there looking at this card I had just finished, I realised that the sentiment perfectly summed up what I was feeling at that moment in time about my mother!  And so this card is going into the glass cabinet and whenever I look up at it, I will "Give Thanks" for her and "Give Thanks to her"!  I'd also like to give thanks to my sister who was with Mum till the end.  My brother had come up days before but had to isolate so couldn't give her a break.  She was exhausted!  

It's been a difficult summer.  I had hoped that, being vaccinated, I could travel to Australia during the summer months (their winter months) and spend some time with mum.  However the delta variant soon put paid to that idea!  Instead, the weekly cap of people allowed into Australia was halved and most of NSW went into lockdown.  Mum only had a handful of mourners present at her funeral but the service was streamed live for those that couldn't be there in person.  I'm very close to my brother and sister.  We talk or text most days, particularly this year as mum's health had declined!  We worked on the readings and discussed points for the eulogy and I wrote and prerecorded the eulogy and it was played as part of the service.  It was so painful not being able to be there with my family but I kept thinking of those poor souls who died alone in hospital and were buried quickly during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.  For me, it was particularly painful that I couldn't be there to sing for mum as I had for dad.  But in any case, due to current Covid restrictions, no singing was allowed.  

I wasn't going to blog about this card, but I was looking at challenges and trying to kick start my waning mojo, and happened upon some challenges that made me think someone was sending me a message.

Firstly The Day of the Month Club Challenge #31 is celebrating World Gratitude Day.

The Timeout Challenge #197 has this inspired by words prompt.   As I sit here surrounded by flowers which dear friends and family have sent me, I can definitely relate to this quote.  And the flowers I added to this card now hold a special meaning for me.

I'd also like to enter Inspired By Challenge IB188 has this lovely mix of leaves as inspiration;

Double D Challenges also has the prompt Leaves and this lovely inspiration board;

I'd also like to enter the Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge #412 - I was determined to use up all of a distressed sheet of Bristol card stock I created for some earlier autumn projects and these tiny leaf dies from Tim Holtz Fall Foliage were perfect for this.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment,  I’ll know you were here and can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get to know each other a little better!

Kate

Café Latte

I wanted to create a café look with this card, so I used some Spellbinder border dies to create some curtains from some gingham paper which I've had in my stash for ages but I think it's My Mind's Eye!!!  I'm really making an attempt to use up papers however I usually buy them at an ever faster rate !!!

I used more of the DP for a table cloth and topped it with a doily.  I then set the table with a coffee pot, mugs and a sugar bowl stamped and cut from the WMS Coffee set.  There was a lovely milk jug in the stamp set but unfortunately it had no matching die - once you start using matching dies it's hard to go back to fussy cutting don't you think?  Still if you've ordered a Latté I guess you don't need a milk jug on the table right 😄!!!

This gingham paper was a difficult one to colour match - all the colours were either too blue or to green, but then I remembered this embossing powder - which is lucky because Make My Monday has an Embossing Challenge this week.

Both Shopping Our Stash  and Cuttlebug Mania have coffee related challenges at the moment.

I'll also be entering the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge for April and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which has an Anything Goes Challenge this week.

Thanks for stopping by, your visits and comments are always a joy.  I hope you find something to inspire you here,

Kate

Fall Blessings

This card is for my son who made it home safely from South America on Thursday, despite tropical storm Hermine.  He said he had never been so afraid on an aeroplane than during the takeoff from Miami.

I have so many stamps and dies that I just had to have at the time but have not yet seen the light of day. Thank heaven for Darnell and her wonderful NBUS challenges.  This one is heading over to NBUS Challenge #7.  The leaves are from a very old Spellbinder die (one of the first I bought) but haven't been used as far as I can remember.  The sentiment is from WMS Blessed By You, which is also NBUS.  

It's also heading over to Timeout Challenge 65 where the inspiration this week is

“Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year.” 

It's also heading over to Cardz4Guyz Challenge 135 where the inspiration this week is 

Something Beginning with the letter 'F'

It's also heading over to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge which have my favourite type of challenge -  Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by,
Kate

Passport Merci

My husband suggested we make a card to thank out local pharmacist for going through the whole passport renewal process for our young son Simon.  I knew immediately I would use this Postage and Frame stamp and embossing folder set from Sizzix and Hero Arts as I think it resembles a passport page.  I also wanted to use this little fellow from WMS Half Pint Heroes additions.

Make it Monday has a challenge this week to use Tags and Toppers so that ultimately influenced the design for this card.  Additional travel stamps used on the tag were from Kaisercraft Pack Your Bags Collection.

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This week Simon Says Stamp has an ANYTHING GOES !!! Wednesday Challenge so I'm heading over there to link up as well.








Thanks for stopping by

Kate

Sweet thank you

Don't miss this great One-Layer Wednesday challenge at Simplicity.  Sponsored by Waltzing Mouse Stamps, there's a chance of winning their fabulous Blessed by You set.  There's also the opportunity to be be dazzled by some simply gorgeous one layer cards.

The candy wagon and contents images are from the appropriately named Candy Wagon set from WMS.  The lollipop flowers at the base of the wagon and on the envelope are also from this set.

The sentiment on the front is from Fancy Phrases and the sentiment on the inside is from Big Berries - Strawberries.

I cut away the wagon's window area, so that the wagon contents image could be stamped inside and give a little depth while still remaining a one-layer card.  The window looked a little odd from the back so I overstamped it with the wagon image which had been stamped off once on scrap.
The green is Peeled Paint Distress Ink and the pink is Adirondack Raspberry.
I love working with these two colours at this time of the year - so typical of spring don't you think !

Thanks a Bunch

A Thank you card for my husband's Luxembourgish teacher.  The stamp was from Sizzix, and embossed in gold.  We were worried the hearts on the stamp would give her the wrong impression - particularly as it was near Valentine's Day when he gave her the card,  so I covered these with gems.  Circles and scalloped circles were cut with Spellbinders.  I would have stamped "Thanks a Bunch" on the card except it wouldn't have meant anything to her - not being an English speaker.