Sir Stampalot October Challenge

Last month's inspiration photo obviously proved a bit daunting, but this month at Stampalot Challenge we have an easier task for you. We want you to

PUNCH AWAY!

Simply include one or more elements using punches on your project! (But please note that dies do not count as punches! It's fine to use dies as well, but your entry must use at least one element made with a punch, otherwise it will not be considered for the prize or top 3. Also, please remember that if you enter your project in more than five other challenges, it will not be eligible for ours. See the Challenge Guidelines at the top of the challenge blog for full details. )

On my card I've used a border punch and butterfly punch ( both by Martha Stewart) and a punch (make unknown) with a corner design incorporating 3 different sizes of flowers which I punched lots of to make the lilac flowers. The lilac stamp (Toomuchfun Rubber Stamps) is one I bought in the USA about 17 years ago. I coloured it with Promarkers before adding the punched flowers. The tiny flowers each have a dot of glitter glue in the centre. The background paper is an old one by K&Company (now sadly discontinued) and the ribbon came from a grab bag bought at a show.

My talented teamies have come up with some absolutely gorgeous designs, so do pop over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at them.

Due to pressure of work at Stampalot Towers, the photo of this month's prize was not available as we went to press, but rest assured that it will be as fantastic as always!

A little Inspiration

I loved looking at all the gorgeous entries for the Take Flight theme, but it's now September already, which means it's time for a new challenge at Stampalot, and this month we have some

Photo Inspiration

Your creation can be anything you like as long as it is inspired by the photo. It would also be helpful to us if you could say in what way the photo inspired you.

Here's the photo

And here's the fab prize which you could win, generously donated as usual by Sir and Lady Stampalot!

For my card, I took inspiration from the woman and child, and the flowers they are holding. I used a picture from a Crafty Individuals book, mounted onto a Nestie frame which was stamped with Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps, to echo the design on the background paper, which was a freebie from Quick Cards Made Easy magazine. I made some lace into a flower and topped it with a floral button. The sentiment is by Waltzing Mouse.

Do pop over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at what my lovely teamies have created. I think they've really excelled themselves this month. I look forward to seeing lots of entries, and good luck everyone!

Things with wings

The theme for August's Stampalot Challenge is right up my street! It's

TAKE FLIGHT

Now that should give plenty of scope - birds, insects, fairies, angels, or even aeroplanes spring to mind -  but for me it just has to be my favourite subject, butterflies!

I've been a bit awol over the past few weeks, busy with various things which have kept me away from blogging (some of which were crafty stuff, but more about that another time!) but I did manage to make my butterfly cards.

For the first one the butterflies are from a Hero Arts Framelits set. I've stamped them on to printed papers from Crafty Individuals (Book 3 Springtime) and then cut them out with the Framelits die included in the set. I've used the same papers for the centre circle, and for the banner (banner stamp by Waltzing Mouse and butterfly word by Crafty Individuals). The doily is by Cheery Lynn.

My second card showcases one of my latest acquisitions, by Prickley Pear, which is fast becoming one of my all-time favourite butterfly stamps, along with the others in the set!

Here the butterfly has alighted on a background of Trimcraft papers ("Neighbourwood" by Helz Cuppleditch) with an Aspects of Design (by The Stampman) Nestie frame stamp, sentiment by The Craft's Meow, and ribbon from my stash. The butterfly has a matching die (available separately) which makes cutting it out so easy.

There are two different sets of the Prickley Pear butterflies, and I have to confess I bought them both! How could I have resisted when they are all so beautiful? You'll be seeing plenty more of them in the not too distant future!

But back to August at Stampalot Challenge. The prize is fabulous, as usual.

My lovely teamies have come up with some absolutely gorgeous designs, so do pop over to the Challenge Blog for plenty of inspiration. I have a feeling that this month's theme is going to be very popular, and I'm looking forward to seeing lots of winged things, butterflies or not!

Crafty Passions

Time for another Stampalot Challenge, and this month we want to know

What's Your Crafty Passion?

Are you mad about markers, desperate for Distress Inks, a sucker for stamping, or potty about punches? Do you have a favourite technique/colour combo/subject? Whatever you can't live without in your crafting, showcase it on your project, and tell us what it is.

My crafty passions (well, the ones I've managed to fit on my card at least!) are butterflies, Distress Inks, my Cuttlebug and resist techniques.

I stamped the butterfly (by Inkylicious, as is the sentiment) with Versamark ink to act as the resist, and then sponged over the background with the Spring limited edition Distress Inks (love those colours!) The diecut butterfly is made with two dies by Memory Box, and the border is from the Spellbinders Parisian Accents set.

The prize this month won't disappoint. An eclectic mix of gorgeous goodies with which to feed your crafty passions, generously donated as ever by Sir and Lady Stampalot who are definitely passionate about their craft.

Do pop over to the Challenge Blog and check out the DT's fab samples. We look forward to seeing yours!

Medals and Monarchs

Our Birthday Challenge and Blog Hop at Stampalot were a great success, and thanks to all those who took part so enthusiastically. But now it's May, and time for a new Stampalot Challenge. This month we're thinking about both the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics, so we want you to come up with projects on the theme of

Medals and Monarchs

This will give you many options: you can go very patriotic, or use lots of 'diamonds' on your work or take the opportunity to celebrate your own country's involvement in the Olympics using your traditional colours.

I had no stamps in my stash which would suit the theme and I didn't want to spend money on something I would use only once, so I was delighted to find that the May issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine had a free gift of a collage stamp and papers which would fit the bill perfectly. This is what I did with them.

I decided to make a rocker card, which I covered with the papers. The main image at the top is the stamp. The bunting was made by cutting out the pennants from one of the papers, ditto the Queen's head.

The "E2R" banner is a Waltzing Mouse stamp cut out by hand, with a crown from one of the free papers, and peel-offs for the lettering.

The Olympic topper is a Nestie shape, and the rings were made from Craftwork Cards' Candi, with holes punched out of the middle, then coloured with Promarkers. A few suitably coloured pearls and jewels provided the finishing touches to the card.

I didn't start with a clear idea of how the end product would look. I kind of made it all up as I went along, and it turned out gloriously over the top, but I quite like it! I think this is going to be a popular theme, and there's plenty of inspiration from my lovely teamies on the Challenge Blog, so do go on over and check it out. Oh, and there's a rather special prize too!

I'm looking forward to seeing all your creations in celebration of this year's great events.

Happy Birthday Stampalot Challenge!

It's a rather special month at Stampalot Challenge. It might be April Fools day, but we're not joking -  you really are going to be spoilt rotten this month! There are absolutely loads of prizes to be won, because it's our Second Birthday! Naturally the challenge theme is

Happy Birthday

You can make absolutely anything you want as long as it's to celebrate a Birthday and as usual there's a fantastic prize from the lovely people at Sir Stampalot for this month's lucky challenge winner:

But it does not stop there, as in time honoured tradition we are having a Blog Hop and what fab prizes Sir Stampalot are offering in addition to the challenge prize above: one at each of the DT's blogs and another for the winner of the correct blog hop answer. I know lots of you are familiar with what you need to do, but as we are seeing so many new crafters joining our challenge, here are the details:

Visit each of the DT's blogs listed below.

Leave each one a comment to be sure you are in the draw for the prizes on each of the DT's blogs.

Pick up a letteR fRom each DT blog you visit. (You might have to look foR a clue to the letteRs!)  My letteR should be faiRly obvious!

Assemble those letteRs into two words - each word has four letteRs, and there's a clue in the prize! - and send youR answers to brenda@ibas.co.uk by noon GMT on 30th ApRil.

All correct answers will go into the draw for this super prize, some rather yummy Hero Arts goodies!

Here's the list of names you need to follow, each one will tell you where you should have arrived from and where you need to go next, but if you get lost you can always go back to the Challenge Blog and start again and don't forget you need to leave a comment at each blog, otherwise you won't be in the draw for all those prizes.


Sally

Pinky

Clare

Brenda

Ruth

Tracy

Lynne - You are here!

Francesca

To get here you should have come from the very talented Tracy and your next and final port of call will be the fabulous Francesca. Then you will have collected your eight letters and rearranged them into the two words to send off to Brenda.
This is the prize you can win on my blog:

And there are yet more prizes, because as this is a special month for us, this month Top 3 challenge entrants will also receive a little prize rather like this which Brenda has put together...........

Amidst all the excitement, I almost forgot to show you my card for our birthday challenge!

I've been making Mothers' Day and Easter cards with some of my classes at school, and they were mostly based on punched flowers. Being in a punch mood, I thought I'd do something with them for my challenge card. I've also just learned how to make crochet flowers (thanks for the lesson, Mairi!) and this one seemed to be the perfect embellishment for the card.

The background paper is from Crafty Individuals, and the flowers are punched from the same paper. The little butterfly is a Nellie Snellen punch. Not sure what all the others are, but they and the Nestie (Blossom 3) I've mounted them on are all available from Sir Stampalot.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Don't forget to go and have a look at the DT's gorgeous samples on the Challenge Blog, where you will also find all the details of the challenge and blog hop, and I look forward to seeing your entries.

Challenged to Inspire, Part 2

Happy Mothering Sunday, everyone! It's a beautiful morning here, hope the sun is shining for you too. I've just watched a pair of buzzards fly past the kitchen window, and a pair of exceptionally cute baby bunnies are keeping the grass tidy at the back!

Here is the card I made from the second kit which the Stampalot DT were given for this month's "Take Inspiration" Stampalot Challenge. This kit (details of which are on the Challenge Blog) is entitled "A Krafty Affair". I loved these DPs (by My Mind's Eye), which were chosen by Janice, and they and all the items in the kit are available from Sir Stampalot. The papers are double sided, so I took photos to show each side.

I made an easel card, and turned the diecut hinges into posts to hold the bunting, which I cut with Whimsy dies.

I decided I wanted to use the celebrate sentiment, which was a Craft Stamper freebie (I masked off the border which surrounds it), and then searched through my stamps for something suitably celebratory. The only one which seemed to fit the bill was my one and only House Mouse! (Inherited from my late MIL  - as you know, I don't do cute!) The Happy Birthday is by Papermania. The scalloped borders were cut with Nestabilities, and the one around the Happy Birthday was cut by hand.

 Anyway, that's the second part of this month's Challenge. If you haven't entered yet, there's still plenty of time, and Janice has now revealed the prize, which is as stunning as usual!

And I can also let you in on the exciting news that was hinted at earlier. The 1st of April will be Stampalot Challenge's 2nd birthday! It's been a fantastic two years, and the fact that the DT has remained substantially the same since the beginning says a lot about what a great challenge it is, and I'm honoured to be part of such a fab team. However, much of our success is down to Brenda's inspirational leadership and the tremendous amount of work she puts into it. So thanks, Brenda,  and here's to many more Stampalot Challenges. We're going to be celebrating, so don't forget to look in on April 1st and join in the fun!

Challenged to inspire!

Something a little different for this month's Stampalot Challenge. Brenda sent all the DT members two kits, the brief being to come up with something using the materials in each kit. There were slight variations in the papers and ribbons (although they were all from the same family of items) but each member's kits were substantially the same, so it is fascinating to see how different are the things we made. As an added twist, you will only get to see one project from each of us today, but you will be able to see the second batch of DT work on 18th March, when we will also be sharing a bit of exciting news with you!

Anyway, you obviously want to know what the challenge actually is for you this month! It's simply

                         * Take Inspiration*

We want you to take your inspiration from any of the DT's pieces of work or the kit itself. You can make anything you like and choose where you take your inspiration from........... perhaps some of the kit colours, pearls and swirls, or maybe one of the DT card designs and go with your own colours. All we ask is that you remember to tell us in your post where you took your inspiration from and of course follow the rules at the top of the Challenge Blog.

The first kit we are showing is called "Pearls and Swirls". This is the kit I received. Details of it are on the Challenge Blog. (I inked the edges of the base card before I remembered to take the photo!)

And this is the card I made from it.

I stamped Hero Arts "Old French Writing" stamp over the background paper, and used Memory Box dies to cut the butterfly, and punches for the flowers. The little dots at the top were cut with an ordinary hole punch, and given a bit of dimension by shaping them with an embossing tool.

The prize for this month is........

......... being carefully selected by Janice right now! But you know it will be fabulous, as always!

So go and take a look at the inspiring work by the rest of the team on the Challenge Blog, and don't forget to check back on the 18th of March for Part Two!



In The Garden

You can't see much in our garden at the moment, because it's covered with snow!

That is actually a colour photo! However, underneath the snow, the snowdrops are out, and the daffodil shoots are already well up. The weather since we moved up to Scotland has been quite miserable, on the whole, although we have had a few lovely days too. I doubt we have finished with winter yet, but when the spring bulbs start to appear, they always lift my spirits.

And what better theme for Stampalot's February Challenge than

IN THE GARDEN

Guaranteed to lift everyone's spirits! Here's my take on the subject.

Having rediscovered old stash when sorting out my new room, and realised the extent of it, I decided that I must try and use as much as possible! So - the background for this card is a paper napkin I've had for at least ten years. The stamped image is part of an equally old Hero Arts set, and it and the sentiment (Hobby Art) are stamped and matted on scraps. I have to confess that the butterfly and border dies are new (Memory Box - couldn't resist them) but the ribbon is old! I mounted the butterfly over a scrap of Crafty Individuals background paper which is a bit old!

The Design Team have produced some really beautiful samples this month, so do go over to the Challenge Blog and take a look. And the prize is just as stunning - the most gorgeous selection of garden-themed goodies!

I can't wait to see the entries this month. I'm sure this will be a very popular theme.

Happy New Year! In Monochrome!

Happy 2012 everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas. My resolution for this year will be to get back to the blogging and blog hopping as often as possible! Thank you to all my lovely blogging friends, who have stuck with me even though I haven't been able to reciprocate. We're still busy getting things sorted in the new house, but I should have a bit more spare time before very much longer. My DH has almost finished the final phase of the shelves in my craft room, and I'm looking forward to being able to get all my stuff organised. Photos will follow in due course!

Anyway, being the first Sunday of the month, it's time for the first Stampalot Challenge of the year. For January, our theme is

Monochromatic

In other words, your entry must use a single colour, though of course variations of that colour from light to dark are fine, as long as they are all of the same colour "tone" (eg. all blue-purple rather than a mixture of blue-purple and pinky purple). I chose Adirondack "Eggplant" dye ink for all the stamping on my card, coloured the ribbon with Promarker "Lilac", and used a dark purple toning paper for the scalloped frame.

All the stamps I've used are by Hero Arts. The dogwood flowers and the butterfly are from a HA Stamp & Die Cut set (Antique Flowers and Butterflies), and I diecut the butterfly to add a bit of dimension. I could have cut out the flowers too, but the card will eventually be posted so I didn't want too much depth. To colour the flowers and butterfly I employed one of my favourite techniques - using a paintbrush and clean water to draw the colour from the stamped image, and just adding a spot more colour picked up from the inkpad where it needed to be a bit darker. The words on the punched circle tag are from an old set called "Conversation Dots", which I keep coming back to every now and then. The corner pieces are also punched. I've distressed various edges with the Adirondack ink.

There will, of course, be the usual fantastic Stampalot Challenge prize up for grabs this month, but for the moment it's a secret!

The lovely Stampalot crew are having a well earned break, but I'm sure they'll reveal the goodies very soon! Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing all your monochromatic designs, and if you need any inspiration, just hop over to the Stampalot Challenge Blog and have a look at the DT's gorgeous creations.

I hope 2012 will be a wonderfully crafty year for everyone. I wonder what's going to be the big crafting trend this year.....

Stampalot December Challenge

Here we are with the first Sunday in December, and so it's time for the last Stampalot Challenge of the year. This month we're playing Bingo and here's your Bingo Card!

The idea is to select one line (in any direction) from the grid and use those items on your creation and tell us in your post which line you have followed.


For a change, I decided to make a criss-cross card, and I've followed the bottom line : Punch - Tags - Ribbon.

The papers are part of a freebie from Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine. I've used a Fiskars border punch, an unidentified large snowflake and tiny Tonic Studios snowflake punches. The sentiment was also a freebie, from Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine, and I've stamped it on a Nestie Ribbon Tag.

This just happens to be the first Christmas card I've made this year! And so far, the only one! We're still busy sorting out the new house, but slowly getting organised.

Anyway, I'm sure you want to know all about this month's prize! Well, it's a cracker! Who wouldn't want to find these goodies in their Christmas stocking? Janice & Andy have really surpassed themselves this time.

To be in with a chance of winning, just get playing Bingo, and if you need any inspiration, pop over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at the gorgeous creations the DT have made for you. I look forward to seeing yours!