One for the girls

My goodness, where did last month go?! Can't believe it's time for another Stamping Sensations Challenge already! But it is, and our theme this month is

* * * * * ONE FOR THE GIRLS * * * * *

Of course, you can interpret that however you wish, as long as your project includes a stamp (digis welcome as long as they are not pre-coloured) as the focal point of your project. As usual we have a terrific prize for the winner of our challenge, and making a very welcome return as our sponsor is PDA Card & Craft, who have donated a very generous £40 voucher to be spent online or, if you're local, in their store.

For my card I was inspired by one of the beautiful papers in the Dovecraft "Bohemian" 6"x 6" paper pad, which just happened to fall into my basket when I was in The Range the other day! I loved the colours and flowers, and it reminded me of the Crafty Individuals stamp I've used with it, which I thought would be very appropriate for the theme. Crafty Individuals stamps are available from PDA, and though I can't guarantee that they'll have this particular one in stock I'm sure they could order it if required.

I framed the Old Fashioned Girl with a Spellbinders die, to which she was attached with foam pads, and coloured her with Be Creative alcohol markers. She was matted on to the background paper with some Bazzill Basics card. I distressed the edges of all the papers. Finally I added some diecut butterflies. (Large - Frantic Stamper, small - Cheery Lynn).

There are lots of gorgeous girly samples over on the Challenge Blog, and my lovely teamies would be delighted if you would visit their individual blogs too, and maybe leave them a comment. Hopefully this will be a popular theme, and I will be looking forward to seeing lots of beautiful feminine creations! Thanks for looking!

Happy New Challenge!

Happy New Year everyone! Our first challenge of 2016 at Stamping Sensations is a nice easy one for you!

* * * * * ANYTHING GOES WITH A STAMP AND DIE/S * * * * *

You choose the subject, we just need to see one or more diecuts and as always, as we are a stamping challenge, some stamping on your creations.

I seem to recall that one of my crafty resolutions for last year was to try and use up old stash. As you'll see from my project, I'm still trying!
Whether you're like me and have past purchases that need to be employed, or whether you received some lovely new crafty goodies for Christmas which you can't wait to try out, you could put them all to good use by entering our challenge this month! And just in case you need any further persuasion, we have an amazing prize on offer!

  

Our fab sponsors Tonic Studios have kindly given us the full range of their new colours of NUVO Crystal Drops (which are similar to Liquid Pearls) along with pots of glitters for the very lucky winner! Who wouldn't want to add those to their stash? I could definitely make room for them!

Anyway, on to my card. The weather has been so depressing lately that I decided to make something to remind myself that this dismal season won't last forever!


My stamp is from the "Picture Perfect 2" set, and the sentiment from the "Spring Awakening" set, both by Inkylicious. The main image was framed with Spellbinder dies, the sentiment was hand cut. I coloured the background of the image with Memento inks using Inkylicious Ink Dusters, masking each section of the image in turn.

The tree die (my new favourite die!), which I cut twice, is by Frantic Stamper (available from Once Upon A Stamp). The background is embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

I finished the design with some ribbon and some tiny leaf embellishments which have been in my stash for years!



The DT have some gorgeous inspiration for you over on the Stamping Sensations Challenge Blog, and remember you can enter up to three times with any type of cards/projects. Good luck!

Final challenge of the year at Stamping Sensations

We have a nice and easy challenge for you for December at Stamping Sensations! The theme is

* * * * * ANYTHING GOES WITH A STAMP AND RIBBON * * * * *

The subject of your project is entirely up to you, but we need to see a stamp and a ribbon (or ribbons!) somewhere on it. Who doesn't like ribbons?! So useful as pretty embellishments.  And we have a fab ribbon prize this month from our lovely sponsors Crafty Ribbons



And that's not all, as we also have an extra prize of two tickets to the February Hobbycrafts show in Manchester.



Anyway, on to my card, on which I have used stamps by Inkylicious, and ribbons from Crafty Ribbons.

First I cut the bauble with a Spellbinders die, keeping the diecut in the die until I had created the background using Inkylicious ink dusters and mountain and valley stencil. Next I stamped the Winter Cabin. The tiny trees in the background were made using just part of another Inkylicious stamp (from the Winter's Tale set). I inked up only the very top of the tree and stamped it over a torn paper mask. I used a white gel pen to add highlights to the cabin and trees, followed by some Be Creative glitter glue for the star and to define the snow banks.

The bauble was then mounted over some Be Creative DP and Crafty Ribbons grosgrain ribbon, with a bow of narrow satin ribbon to complete it. The deer and tree diecuts are part of a bauble die by Frantic Stamper.

There's plenty of inspiration over on the Stamping Sensations Challenge Blog, and my lovely teamies would really appreciate it if you visited their individual blogs too. We hope you enjoy creating your projects for our December challenge. We can't wait to see them!