Use Stripes or Chevrons at Sweet Stampin'

 Hello!  A new challenge starts at Sweet Stampin' today and this fortnight's theme is to incorporate stripes and/or chevrons in your design.

I used a red rubber background stamp from Simon Says Stamp (it's a few years old) to create bold navy stripes on a white background 

I used a stamp and die set from Concord & 9th to create my sentiment and cut contrasting yellow flowers using dies from the same bundle as embellishments.

We'd love you to play along with us so do check out the challenge details and the inspiration makes from my teamies over at the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog.

Have a great weekend xx

Christmas in July

 Over at Sweet Stampin' our new challenge theme starts today.  This one is always popular: Christmas in July.

I often go for bright or bold colours for Christmas but here I went for a more subtle look although I stuck with my favourite red and green. I used the Greetery's stamp and stencil combo for the Christmas flowers, stamping the leaves in Iced Spruce Distress Oxide ink and stencilling the flowers in a couple of Gina K reds.

I then cut the lattice pattern from Concord & 9th Pistachio cardstock using the Greetery's co-ordinating die.  This die cut is quite delicate and is a bit of a fiddle to get lined up but I like the end result.  There is also a stencil in the set to give a similar effect.

The sentiment comes from an old Simon Says Stamp snowflake border set.  I stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black onto a die cut banner which I curled up at the edges.

I hope this theme appeals to you and that you will play along with us this fortnight.  You'll find all the details here at the Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog.

xxx

Cards for men at Sweet Stampin'

 It's time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin'!  This fortnight we'd like to see your take on masculine-themed cards: birthday, father's day, or any other occasion you can think of!

My card isn't perhaps obviously "male" but I hope it fits the bill nonetheless.

I used an Anita Jeram mini stamp for my image, which I coloured with Copics.  With so much white space, this clean and simple design was quick to create.

We love to see what you make, so do hop on over to the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog to check out the DT inspo and play along with us.

xxx

Things with Wings at Sweet Stampin'

 Another fortnight has flown by and it's time to start a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin'.  Our theme this time is "Things with Wings".

I chose a tiny Altenew stamp set to create my butterfly, one of their mini-delight range (I think that's what they're called!).  Rather than go for lots of white space around the image, this time I broke out my much-neglected embossing folders and opted for one which has quite a lot of detail.  I cut a panel of black cardstock to 4.25 x 5.5 cm and embossed the floral/diamond pattern onto this before adding it to a cardbase made from black cardstock.  The sentiment is from the same Altenew stamp set and to keep things simple I just added a couple of clear dew drops as embelllishments.

It would be great if you could join in our Things with Wings challenge Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog- we love to see what you make!

xx

Favourite Colour - Sweet Stampin'

 We have a new challenge starting today at Sweet Stampin' and our theme this fortnight is an easy one - use your favourite colour.

I can't honestly say that I have an absolute favourite colour, but I'm often drawn to red or deep pink.  I chose to use The Stamp Market's Raspberry ink with my Betterpress to create this image and I think it's a lovely, vibrant colour.

I managed to find some coloured cardstock in my stash which matches the ink quite well - I think it's one from MFT, which is sadly now discontinued, although if you're in the UK I believe Dies to Die For may still have some MFT cardstock left.

I used a Gina K die set to cut the sentiment mat and the scalloped layer; the sentiment itself is years old and is part of a big floral set from Simon Says Stamp.  All I really had left to do after sticking all the layers together was add some clear dew drops.

I love my Betterpress! I find it great for mass producing cards and so far I've found that all of my inks work well provided they are not too dry.  I made a few more using this particular plate while I had all the gear out:

The inks used for these cards were Stardust (Concord & 9th), Mossy (The Stamp Market)  and Blueberry (Concord & 9th).

Do hop on over to the Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog to check out the inspiration makes from my lovely teamies.  We'd love it if you' play along this fortnight.

Have a great weekend!

xx

Use gingham or plaid

 Sweet Stampin's latest challenge starts today.  This time we'd like you to incorporate either a plaid or gingham pattern in your design.  

My DT card uses patterned paper from my stash.  All my paper is now donkey's years old and I really need to use it up.  I chose to use the Stamping Bella image as the snowdrops are out and are looking beautiful just now.  My drive to work takes me past lots of woodland and the snowdrops look like a white carpet under the trees.

We'd love you to play along with our challenge this fortnight.  Head on over to the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog to check out our inspiration makes - you'll find the challenge details there, too.

Happy stamping!

xx

No design paper at Sweet Stampin'

 We have a new challenge starting today over at the Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog.  This fortnight we'd like you to avoid using design paper in your creations.

Once upon a time I'd have found this challenge theme really difficult as I used DP all the time.  Not so much now, though, thanks to the lovely stencils and stamps we have access to!

I used a  Concord and 9th stencil (Cottage Garden) and a combination of Concord & 9th and Gina K inks.  The stencil set is really easy to line up so it took no time to ink up, so it is perfect for batch creating.  The sentiment is from my stash but I can't remember where it's from.  The joy of these stencils is that they'll work with pretty much any sentiment, whether it's stamped or die cut.

I added a couple of co-ordinating dew drops and that was that.  I was on a roll, so made a few more...

I hope you can join us for this challenge.  You'll find all the details, plus some lovely inspo from my teamies, over at the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog.

Have a great and hopefully crafty weekend!

xxx

Bright and Beautiful

 Happy New Year!  Thank you so much for stopping by.

We have new challenge over at Sweet Stampin', starting today and our theme for the coming fortnight is Bright and Beautiful.

I was able to find some time over the Christmas holiday to use some previously unloved crafty goodies, including this Concord & 9th stamp set

There are 3 main stamps in this set which create the sentiment and rainbow, so I used Summer Shower ink from Pinkfresh Studio for the blue colour, plus Concord & 9th inks in Lemongrass and Pink Lemonade.  You can then add extra details to the letters with additional stamps and I used the same inks to get a tone on tone effect.  All I needed to do then was pop the image onto a Dragonfruit (C&9th) cardstock mat and add some co-ordinating enamel dots from my stash.

This proved to be quite a quick card to mass produce so I made a few to keep in my "emergency card" stash at work.

I hope you'll be able to play along with us this fortnight.  You'll find the challenge details plus fab inspiration makes from my teamies over on the Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog.

Have a great weekend

xx