Treasure of the Sea

 

Challenge #238 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and this fortnight we have an Inspired By Words Challenge with this quote by Aberjhani 

"Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.” 

I not only focused my attention on the words "rainbow" and "gold" but also on the notion of treasure being found at the end of a rainbow.  I serendipitously stumbled upon this very old stamp in my stash while looking for another item, which led me to create this ocean themed card - which is about as far away from my initial idea as you could possibly get!  But that's the fun of challenges - you never know where they will lead you and  I do love to be beside the seaside so I don't mind at all being led there!

I'm on a mission to use up my NBUS items so I always check them first and I remembered I had not yet used this magnificient Nautilus Shell (Memory Box Grand Spiral Shell).  It's a 2 part die and I stacked up 2 of the solid die cuts in white before adding the rainbow die cut and finally the detail die cut from gold mirror card - I used the white die cuts to create some distance between that busy patterned paper and the shell.  

I'd like to enter NBUS Challenge #50 - it's always fun to enter Darnell's NBUS challenges though inevitably I'll find one or two things that I simply must have when visiting there so my NBUS stash is not decreasing at all!

How lucky was I to have this snippet on my desk from a project I made last week, which just accomodated the shell!  

 

I found some DP which resembled water, but it had a stark white background so I blended squeezed lemonade and sailboat blue DIs over it to give a dappled ocean appearance,  I dried that, ran over the anti-static pad and heat embossed the "treasures of the ocean" text directly onto the panel in gold!   Use Your Stuff Challenge #483 has a theme of water so I'd like to enter there!

I'd also like to enter Retro Rubber Challenge #206, which is a tic-tac-toe challenge and I've used row 3 - patterned paper, embossing and my choice of gold!  The Treasures of the Ocean text stamp is from Crafty Individuals Stamp set #272 Sea Shells.  I added it to my photos library (which I use to catalog my craft stash) in 2010 but it could in fact be older than that as my records only go back so far.  

Finally, I'd like to enter the Happy Little Stamper Anything Goes with Dies May Challenge!

We can't wait to see how you interpret these words - you can use just one, some, or all of these words as inspiration and please, if it's not obvious please explain to us how the words inspired you!  If you're stumped, you might like check out the inspiration from my fellow DT members and we're being joined this fortnight by Greta Hess of GG Creations - I'm sure she'd love you to drop by and say hi.

Varada Sharma is our sponsor this month - as well as being a brilliant crafter and blogger, she has designed some really gorgeous digital stamps and cut files.  She has kindly offered 2x$15 vouchers - which means we can offer 1 of those vouchers to our winner as voted by the DT team, and another randomly.  Check out the Time Out Challenge Blog for details!  

And as always our winner will also be invited to share their talents as a guest designer in a future challenge.  

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

Say it with Flowers

 

The optional theme for the month of May at 613 The Avenue Create is 

Say it with Flowers

which presented me with an excellent opportunity to make another lollipop flower - this time an interactive one!

I used this "thanks" text die (Winnie and Walter Big Bold and Comfort) to create a stem for my flower - if you really want to say it with flowers can you think of a better way!   I cut it from some lime green patterned card stock (a snippet left over from a previous project).  I also cut some leaves to ensure it looked like a long-stemmed flower rather than a bunch of circles stuck at the end of a die cut sentiment!   The leaves were cut using a NBUS set (Memory Box Sturdy Stem)!

The flower head is made up of three slightly offset circles.  The bottom circle has a hole punched in it and is attached to the card front wih a brad so that it can spin.  Simple really, although the flower head will spin more freely if you surround the brad with strips of foam tape so that the foam tape is higher than the head of the brad - this ensures the layer added on top won't bulge or more importantly interfere with the movement of the brad.  I added the top circle with foam tape too but just for consistency.   The flower does looks a lot better with foam tape separating the layers anyway!  I also added the panel to the card base with foam tape to give it the best possible chance of spinning freely.

I try to make sure the hole in the bottom circle is fairly well centred so it stays centred above the stem and doesn't spin off to the left or right or up and down but by placing the other circles off centre you get an off-kilter wonky spin which is much more effective in my opinion.  

Here it is in action

We are sponsored by Mirtallamente and there are prizes to be won so check out the challenge blog 613 The Avenue Create for details - you'll also find loads of floral inspiration from my lovely team mates!  I do hope you'll come and hang out on our front porch this month!

I'd like to enter the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #50 - the leaves die is NBUS;

Snippets Playground Challenge #453 - snippet of patterned paper used for the "stem" and leaves;

Papercraft Challenges #93 has a theme of Spring;

Allsorts Challenge Week 727 - April Showers Bring May Flowers.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments always bring me joy and are always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Snowflake Sprig of Joy

Time for a new Challenge at  The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge  and time to add another Christmas card to the stash!

This was a fairly quick one made up using another panel of this lovely Lindsay tartan with gold foiling. I added a gold sprig (Memory Box Snowflake Sprig) and the word "joy" (Reverse Confetti Winter Words) and scattered a few snowflakes and that was it!  It didn't really need anything else!

There may not be "Lots of gold" but hopefully enough to enter my card in the May Christmas Crafts All Year Round Challenge!

I'd also like to enter Bastel-Traum Challenge #23 with the prompt celebrate!

Make My Monday Challenge #199 has the prompt flowers and I hope the delicate snowflake blooms on this die cut image qualify!

And Peace on Earth Challenge #38 where the prompt is always Anything Christmas Goes!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments always bring me joy and are always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate