The Single Most Important Thing!

Challenge 230 at Timout Challenges has just gone live and here's my DT card!  This fortnight, we’re being Inspired By Words … with this quote from Beth Parsons from This is Us … "The single most important thing I've ever done with my life is to fall in love with you".  

The word that stood out for me was "single" and I decided to go with a single red rose - perfect for Valentine's Day right!!!  You can use any of the words or all of them as inspiration … we can't wait to see how you interpret them!  I decided on this very old script embossing folder to ground the image.  I can't make out what it says but I guess it was specifically designed that way - I'm imagining a love letter!

This challenge is sponsored by AALL Create who are offering our winner a $20 GC.  They have some amazing stamps, dies, stencils and ephemera as well as tools and supplies - so do check them out!

I'm so grateful you stopped by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments always brighten my day!  If you do leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Time Out Challenge #229 – We challenge you to be … Romantic!

I am thrilled to share my first card as a member of the Time Out design team!  This fortnight, we challenge you to be Romantic - a timely challenge with Valentine's Day only a few weeks away!

Romantic made me think of Chocolate but then a lot things in life make me think of chocolate!!!  I also thought of roses and found this scrap of rose-patterned paper to make up a pretty block of chocolate!

To make this low calorie treat, I punched 12 small squares and stamped them with little heart motifs.  I then mounted them with foam tape onto another piece of card stock so that there was a small but consistent gap between the squares.  I then trimmed this piece so that there was a slight border around the edges.  I took a small piece of kitchen foil - long enough to cover about 2/3 of the block and wide enough to wrap around to the back!  I tore the upper width at an angle and wrapped it around the bottom three sides of the block.  I then took the scrap of rose patterned paper, tore one long edge at an angle and wrapped it around the block, leaving a sliver of the torn foil showing at the top and a small border of foil at the bottom - the way chocolate blocks used to be wrapped!

I added a lace doily, some hearts and this rather fitting sentiment from Verve … what could be more romantic?

What does romantic mean to you?  We'd love to see your romantic creations in the gallery so why not take some TIME OUT and join us?  All the challenge details along with the prize info (yes there's a prize) and loads of inspiration from my wonderfully talented team mates can be found HERE.  

I'd like to enter my card in Cardz4Galz Challenge #189 which is actually choose your favourite challenge of theirs from 2022.  I chose Cardz4Galz Challenge #172 which is Food and/or Drink!  

I also found another brilliant challenge at Shopping Our Stash Challenge #487 - Pyjama Day!  The striped background paper and co-ordinating rose paper, reminded me of a favourite pair of pyjamas I had many (many) years ago - long since gone I'm afraid so I can't furnish a photo!

I'd also like to enter Challenge #444 at the Snippets Playground where the theme is Anything BUT Christmas!  The chocolate and die cut sentiment were all cut from snippets left over after cutting card bases.  The roses paper was a snippet left over from a previous project.    Thank you Di and Sarn for all your wonderful inspiration over the year - "waste not, want not" as my mother was ever so fond of telling me!

Thanks for stopping by - your visits and comments always brighten my day!

Kate

The Bee's Knees

I haven't had much time for crafting this year while I'm nursing my youngest son after surgery on his leg and foot.  Whenever I've started contemplating a card, I'll hear "Muuuuum" and that will be the end of that train of thought.  However after 3 weeks of being post-op and no return to school in sight (and a trip to the Expo Creative where I treated myself to some new goodies), I was determined to start something on the weekend and was finally successful in finishing something.

I bought this new honeycomb die with the express purpose of using it with this fabulous Verve "What's the Buzz" stamp set and matching dies and I wanted to use it first.  One of my favourite places for sketch inspiration has always been the Verve team so when I saw this sketch from Julee at Viva la Verve, a card started taking shape. 

Viva la Verve January Sketch Challenge 

Not a very traditional Valentine's Day card, but I'm not one for lot's of red love hearts anyway.  This one is certainly eye-catching (in a 'scuse me while I get my sunglasses kind of way).

I almost used a feather but this scroll die was another newbie so I thought I'd use it instead. 

Here are some of the other challenges I'm entering

Cuttle Bug Mania's Valentine's Day Challenge

SSS Wednesday "Layer It Up" Challenge

Addicted to Stamps "Anything Goes" Challenge

Happy Little Stampers "Anything Goes with Dies" Challenge

I love that you stopped by and appreciate all your comments.  

Have a great week,

Kate 

I Heart U

This MFT Abstract Heart arrived last week and with Valentine's Day fast approaching, I thought I should put it to good use.

I'm entering this card in Darnell's NBUS #10.

I was inspired by the colours in CTD428 

This inspiration image from Curtain Call helped me finish the card.  The use of x's and o's prompted me to use the I and U to make up a sentiment, before that I just had a lonely heart.

I'm also entering in this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - The Colour of Love 

I just love polka dots, so I'm glad to have another reason to use them - Inkspirational Challenge 127

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you were inspired.

Thanks especially if you take the time to leave a comment.  Not only do they make my day but they make it possible for me to return the favour,

Kate

A Busy Weekend

I had this coral pink heart on my desk for ages and decided to use it to make a Valentine's Day card for upcoming markets, rather than another wedding card.  I used more of the same card stock for the base and framed the heart and sentiment with some lighter pink card cut with a Spellbinders Adorning Square.  The sentiment was stamped and embossed on a sheet of vellum.   I knew I had to stamp on vellum as the card stock has a  lovely shantung silk effect - very pretty but the stamping would have been lost on it.  By framing the vellum, I didn't have to worry about hiding the adhesive and I had a pretty square to decorate the inside.

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Next I dabbled a little with some alcohol inks and created two backgrounds.  I overstamped them with various shell stamps, cut one down to a square size and the other I kept A6.  The sentiments and most of the shells are from a Crafty Individuals sheet.  I absolutely love sea shells but haven't used these stamps for ages.  It was a lot of fun.  I tied some twine around the cards to give them that beach comber look.

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I had stamped and cut some WMS Country Labels 4 frames for a previous project and they have been sitting on my desk for a while now.  I stamped some kraft card with WMS Woodgrain Backgrounder using a recently acquired Glacier White Ranger Pigment Ink Pad.  I decided on this birthday sentiment from WMS Compact Sentiments and embossed it in white.  I fiddled around with some patterned paper, a doily, some buttons and a stamped doily - this little unnamed wooden stamp was a lucky find at a craft fair two years ago and works perfectly with a Spellbinders Splendid Circle. 

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to leave a comment,

Kate