Just Add Ink #368

Hey Everyone

There’s a new challenge waiting for you at Just Add Ink. This weeks challenge is for you to:

When you’ve had no sleep after babysitting a 1yo and a 3yo you really should read the challenge before you make a card…… With my tired eyes and fuzzy mind I thought the challenge was something like create a Christmas card using a non-traditional stamp set. So I came up with this card using Oh So Succulent:

I then went to load my card and realised it was supposed to be a Christmas card using a birthday set. Even though Oh So Succulent has a birthday sentiment in it, I wasn’t sure it fit the challenge 100%, so I scrambled and made the following card using Happy Birthday Gorgeous. I created a wreath with the leaves from this set and stamped the little flowers in red to make them look like poinsettias.

The girls at Just Add Ink have created wonderful inspiration for you – so head over to Just Add Ink and take a look. We would love it if you could play along.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

12Jul2017

Freshly Made Sketches #296

Posted in By Stamp Set - Flurry of Wishes, By Theme - Christmas Cards, Challenge - Freshly Made Sketches by stamplicious

Hey Everyone

We have a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for you. This weeks our sketch has been designed by the super talented and very hard working Jennifer Timko. I’m wish I had half the energy of her with her busy life and cardmaking!

I love it when I see a sketch and my card comes together in no time at all. I needed a no time at all card this week as I was the babysitter for my 1yo and 3yo great nieces on Saturday night. It’s been a long time since I’ve had little kids needing me overnight. I adore these girls to bits, and as they are so sweet, I didn’t even mind I only had four hours sleep. I think I may’ve been “Auntie Ral’d” out by Sunday afternoon though. Then I had to sit down and create my card. I thought I was would no inspiration as tired as I was, but I ended up loving my card. Cheers to all those cardmaking mums with small kids – I don’t know how you do it!

I’m on a Christmas card roll as I’m determined to have my cards written and ready to send early December…..that’s my plan – let’s see if I can do it. I’ve used Stampin’ Up!s Flurry of Wishes for my card and kept my colour scheme neutral by using Whisper White, Basic Black, Crumb Cake and a strip of retired Pop of Pink Specialty DSP.

Here’s my card:

The team at Freshly Made Sketches have created gorgeous cards to inspire you – head over to Freshly Made Sketches and take a look.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

5Jul2017

Freshly Made Sketches #295

Posted in By Stamp Set - Flurry of Wishes, By Theme - Female Cards, Challenge - Freshly Made Sketches by stamplicious

Hey Everyone

It’s Wednesday! That means it’s time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! I’m this weeks sketch designer and I’ve designed the following sketch for you:

Last year I decided I would try to create my Christmas cards early so I would have enough to give to family and send to friends, but as usual it’s already July and I haven’t made one, until today……

I decided my sketch was going to be the start for my 2017 stash. Apart from my sentiment, my card is stamp-less – just a whole heap of die cutting using Stampin’ Up! Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies. I find it relaxing running dies through my big shot. The sentiment I used is from Flurry of Wishes and the colours I’ve used are – Lemon Lime Twist, Fresh Fig, Tranquil Tide and Whisper White. The strip of DSP I’ve used in the background is from Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper and I added a strip of Gold Ribbon under the sentiment.

Here’s my card:

For inspiration, head over to Freshly Made Sketches and take a look at the gorgeous cards the Freshly Made Sketches Design Team have created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

4Jul2017

Urban Underground Card Class

Posted in By Stamp Set - Beautiful You, By Stamp Set - Dragonfly Dreams, By Stamp Set - Lift Me Up by stamplicious

Hey Everyone

I created projects recently for my class girls that featured Urban Underground Specialty Designer Series Paper before it retired. It’s taken me a few weeks to remember I hadn’t put them on my blog.

The two first projects are using Stampin’ Up!s Dragonfly Dreams. I was so glad that this stamp set carried over as it’s one of my favourites.

This is one of my go-to layouts. I’m a huge circle fan and by layering some circles and adding a couple of banners, the card has a fullness to it that I love. My dragonfly is lightly coloured with Stampin’ Up!s Watercolor Pencils to give it a little more definition and I added some Black Metallic Thread to finish it off.

For my second project we made a post-it notepad holder with calendar. We used the same pencil technique to give the dragonfly a bit of colour. I stamped this fabulous sentiment from Beautiful You as it fit perfectly on my card stock and also because I really liked the words. I added some Black Linen Thread and a sequin just because I liked the look of it!

We then moved on to Stampin’ Up!s Lift Me Up stamp set. We created two cards using this set.

The first card could be for either a male or a female with these colours and these stamps. My usual cards are florally so it’s nice to have a card in my stash for a man. If we had more time in the class, we could’ve coloured the balloons, but I liked them clean and didn’t want them to clash with the background DSP.

Our last card was a shaker card. We’d never made one before and I hoped they liked it. Shaker cards are fun and can be used for any age group.

I hope you enjoyed these projects.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

1Jul2017

Just Add Ink#366

Posted in By Theme - Female Cards by stamplicious

Hey Everyone

Oops! My post didn’t go live…….

This weeks challenge at Just Add Ink is to :

I decided to go with a Stampin’ Up! stamp set with two A’s in it called Awesomely Artistic. I’ve had this stamp set sitting in my bookcase uninked for a year and thought it was well and truly time to get it inky. I’ve got lots of layers and fussy cutting on my card and I’ve used some of my favourite In-Colours – Fresh Fig and Lemon Lime Twist. The strip of designer series paper I’ve used is Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper. I’d even forgotten there’s a sweet little dragonfly in this set – seems I might need to reacquaint myself with my stamp sets!

The design team have created gorgeous cards to inspire you, so head over to Just Add Ink and take a look at them.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

28Jun2017

Colour INKspiration Challenge #12

Posted in By Stamp Set - Feather Together, By Theme - Female Cards, By Theme - Masculine Cards by stamplicious

Hey Everyone

It’s time for a new challenge at Colour INKspiration Challenges. This weeks colour challenge is to use at least four of the colours from the inspiration picture below:

I think I needed this scarf today as the cold wind went right through me as I was walking out of work today

Colour INKspiration Challenge is a Facebook Challenge. We love seeing what you create with the colour combos we give you each fortnight. When you’ve finished the hop we would love it if you could play along. Head over to our Facebook page and link up a card.

I wanted to test myself and see how many of the colours from the inspiration pic I could fit on my card. As you probably know, I am a little frightened when I have to create a card with more than about 2 or 3 colours. To add as many of the colours, I kept my background white and went to town on them. I’m pleased to say that I fit all of them on my card. It helped because of the triangle stamp from Stampin’ Up!s Happy Celebrations – I was able to create a graphic background. I then stamped feathers from Feather Together to complete the card. The sentiment I’ve used is from Big on Birthdays. It was the perfect sized sentiment as it didn’t cover the background stamping too much.

Here’s my card:

The next hop along the way is my talented stamping friend Nikki Spencer! I totally love her cards as much as I love her friendship. Click below to hop to her blog and she her gorgeous creation.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

21Jun2017

Freshly Made Sketches #293

Posted in By Stamp Set - Birthday Blooms, By Stamp Set - Blooms & Wishes by stamplicious

Hey Everyone

It’s time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. Our sketch designer this week is my super talented NZ friend Karren Johnson. Karren’s so creative with her card making and is an amazing colourist!

Have a look at her fab sketch:
I really love her sketch! I don’t have any large dies that gave me that great curve, so I hand cut my cardstock as close to the sketch as I could. The flowers, I watercoloured with my watercolour pencils, are from Birthday Blooms. These flowers have quite a lot of smaller flowers and leaves around them, but for something different, I cut them all off. I then coloured the largest of the leaves and tucked them back under the flowers.

The black leaves are cut with Flourish Thinlit Dies and the sentiment I’ve used is from Stampin’ Up! Blooms and Wishes. Initially I had an all white background but felt it looked a bit plain, so I picked up a discarded piece of designer series papers I had on my desk and added it to my card. This great chevron paper is from a retired pack called Pop of Pink Specialty Designer Series Paper. I really liked the contrast of the black chevron, Rich Razzleberry flowers and white cardstock.

We would love it if you could join us with this sketch challenge. Head over to Freshly Made Sketches and link up a card. While you’re there, take a look at the fabulous inspiration from the design team.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle