Brighten up these grey days!

Don't know about your neck of the woods, but up here it's been damp, dull, dreary and draughty lately. Very draughty! And very damp! Not to mention cold! We've had the odd fine day, but they've been few and far between, and the unremitting grey leaves me feeling blue. I'm definitely not a winter person. Roll on the spring!

However, at least we have Christmas to look forward to, along with this month's challenge from Stamping Sensations which I hope is going to brighten things up considerably as our December theme is

* * * * * WINTER SPARKLE * * * * *

Bring out the bling, and show us your winter wonders, but please do remember that the main image of your project must be stamped and follow the theme.

We are sponsored once again by the fabulous Gordon and Justin of Be Creative, and knowing Justin's love of all things Christmassy and glittery, I'm sure they will both be looking forward to seeing all your entries as much as I am.

I've used some of the superb Be Creative products on my card.

Their Wonder Tape, Wonder Sheet and Glue Wands are my go-to adhesives for card making, and their Wonder embossing powders and crystals are to die for. I stamped the sentiment (Inkylicious) and embossed it with one of the detail embossing powders from the White Mystical set. This is a set of four white-based powders, three of which have glitter mixed in, and the one I chose is named, appropriately, Winter Sparkle. I used the same powder to make the background. I cut a piece of Wonder Sheet to size, removed the cover sheet from one side and sprinkled the powder all over it, and heated it. Both the Wonder Sheet and the Tape are heat resistant, so they are perfect for heat embossing. Once melted, the silver glitter mixed in with the white powder really does sparkle beautifully. The photo doesn't do it justice, although you can maybe see it a little better in the next one.

I diecut the sentiment with a Spellbinders die and added a few punched snowflakes (Tonic Studios punch) to finish off the design.

My lovely teamies have loads of gorgeous sparkly inspiration for you over on the Challenge Blog, so do go and take a look, and I hope to see lots of entries for our final challenge of the year. Let's make Blogland sparkle!

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!

June Challenge at Stamping Sensations

Well, flaming June it certainly isn't up here! We have had a few sunny spells between the showers, but it's so unseasonably cold and windy. However, last month's bumper crop of flowers (well over 200 entries) for our floral challenge at Stamping Sensations certainly brightened things up! I'm confidently expecting this month's theme to be equally popular, as it is

* * * * * DIES AND PUNCHES * * * * *

You can use either just dies, just punches, or a combination of both. And of course, as we are a stamping challenge, we need to see some rubber stamping on your project as well. Making a welcome return visit to sponsor us for June is Tonic Studios, who have given us a full set of their Pretoria Alphabet Dies for the lucky winner! What a fabulous prize!

 

I have used a die (Celtic Circle) and a punch (Celtic Strip), both by Tonic Studios, for my card.

Other supplies used -
Celtic bird stamp: Non Sequitur
Small Celtic circle stamp: unknown
Background text stamp: Judikins
Sentiment: Innovative Stamp Creations
Background paper: Paper Cellar
I used Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink for all the stamping and to ink around the edge of the BP

I'm still on a mission to revisit/use up old stash, and everything on this card is at least a couple of years old, and some things many years! Had another mini clear out of my craftroom the other week, but still don't seem to have any more space on my shelves! As long as I can keep things from encroaching too much on to the floor, though, I'm happy! I think back to my old tiny craft room, where I had to step over boxes to get to my desk, on which there was never more than about a square foot clear to work in, and remember how lucky I am to have so much more lovely space in the new one.

Here's a closer view of the gorgeous Celtic bird stamp. I've always liked it, don't know why I don't use it more often!

Anyway, as ever, there's plenty of inspiration for you over on the Challenge Blog My brilliant teamies would love it if you visited their individual blogs too, and we look forward to seeing what you can do with your dies and punches.

Anything Goes at Stamping Sensations!

Summer certainly arrived last month at Stamping Sensations  and it was an absolute treat looking through all the beautiful entries full of gorgeous summer blooms! But now to this month, and we have an open theme for our August Challenge. It's

*****  ANYTHING GOES  *****

You can enter any project on a theme of your choice. The only stipulations is that as we are a stamping challenge it must contain some rubber (or polymer!) stamping done by hand. Any project which uses only digital "stamps" (which are of course not stamps but clipart) will unfortunately not be eligible for the prize. And it would be such a shame for you to miss out on the prize opportunity, because this month it's a stunner!

Our wonderful sponsors are Tonic Studios, and just look what they are offering the lucky winner! Absolutely gorgeous and newly released!

For my card I've gone with a Scottish theme. I took my inspiration from the thistles which have now replaced the spring bluebells on the bank across the road from my craftroom window, and also from this month's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

 

 

I'm still loving my Brusho paints, and have used them to make the background. I'm also trying to challenge myself to go outside my comfort zone a bit with my colour choices. Not too sure about this one but I *think* it works ok.....! I'd got in my head that the official Games tartan had orange in it, but when I checked later it's more pink! Oh well, never mind! The thistle silhouette (Chocolate Baroque) was stamped on to the background and surrounded with the Tonic Studios Celtic Circle die (from which I cut out the middle with a Spellbinders circle die to make it into a frame). The border at the side was made with the Tonic Studios Celtic Border Strip punch. The final touch was the tag with the sentiment (Chocolate Baroque) which I thought was quite appropriate to the ethos of the Commonwealth Games as the "friendly games".  I sponged around the edges of the tag with pigment ink, trying to match the Brusho colours as closely as I could.

 

I love open themes, as there are always some lovely surprises among the entries! I look forward to seeing yours!

 

 

Poppies

We have some poppy inspiration for our September Challenge at Stamping Sensations! A field of beautiful poppies (Brenda's favourite, of course!).

We'd like you to take inspiration from the photo for your projects, so for instance you could go for the colours, the general scene, or the poppies themselves. I've gone for all of those!

First of all I made the background scene. I hand drew the field and distant hills with watercolour pencils, overstamped the trees and drew the fence. Next I drew in the distant poppies, making them slightly more defined towards the foreground.

The main poppy image was then stamped over the background picture, coloured with Promarkers to make it stand out, and the flower centres dotted in with a black gel pen.

I hand cut a frame with an arch-shaped aperture from white card, drew a black border around it and mounted it over the picture. The whole thing was mounted on to the red patterned background paper, and finally on to an 8" x 8" base card. The frame was decorated with various diecuts, a stamped bee and some little butterflies, and a sentiment. Glitter glue was added to the insects' wings.

The gorgeous poppy stamp is by our lovely sponsor for September, Chloe Endean of Chloe's Creative Cards. Her "Stamps By Chloe" range has something for everyone, including Christmas stamps and a great selection of sentiments. Chloe has very generously donated a super selection of her products worth around £50 for our lucky winner this month!

The Design Team have produced some really lovely samples for you, so do go and have a look at them on the Challenge Blog. We are looking forward to seeing all your poppy-inspired projects!

Here's what I made my card with:

Main poppy image: Poppy Border from Stamps By Chloe. Tree stamps: Crafty Individuals. Bee stamp: Tonic Studios (by Ruth Hamilton). Tiny butterfly stamp and sentiment:  Hobby Art.
Diecuts - Prim Poppy, Chloe Stem, Fuchsia Sprig, all by Memory Box. Leaves (Flourish Leaf Strip) by Cheery Lynn. Sentiment cut out with Spellbinders label die. Background paper from my stash (very old!).

Stamping Sensations May Challenge

Well, at last it's beginning to feel a bit more like spring up here! I'm looking out of my craft room window on to a bank of beautiful daffodils across the road. They were at least three weeks later opening than last year. It's even getting warmer - we only need two jumpers on now instead of three! Roll on summer, though, we need more sun!

Anyway, we have a lovely new challenge for you at Stamping Sensations, and our theme is

***** EMBOSSING AND TEXTURE *****

Any kind of embossing will be acceptable, dry or heat embossing, and there is endless scope for adding texture to your projects.

Our sponsor this month is the fabulous Tonic Studios, who have donated an awesome prize! A Peruvian Lily Stamp and Punch set and a gorgeous lattice window die, both from the Pick of the Bunch range designed by our very own super-talented Ruth Hamilton!

What a gorgeous prize! I want one! The Punch and Stamp sets really are stunning. Just imagine creating a lovely window box full of flowers in front of that lovely lattice window.

So, on to my card. I have incorporated both types of embossing.

The dry embossing helps to create the texture, as do the layers and embellishments. I stamped the fuchsia (from Tonic Studios' Pick of the Bunch range by Ruth) and heat embossed it with Wow! Neutral Ultra Shimmer embossing powder, which has a gorgeous sparkle. You can just about see it in the next photo. It was then coloured with Promarkers and cut out with a Nestie Labels 4 die. 

It is sitting on a background dry embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The left hand side of the background has a lily (also from the Pick of the Bunch range) stamped over Gelli printed paper. The join is covered with a strip punched with a Tonic Studios border punch. The diecut butterfly is by Cheery Lynn, and the sentiment by The Craft's Meow.

My lovely teamies have some absolutely gorgeous samples for you this month, so do pop over to the Challenge Blog where I'm sure you'll be inspired!

A Treemendous finish to the year!

It's our final challenge for 2012 at Stamping Sensations, and the theme is

TREEMENDOUS!

Plenty of scope there. They could be Christmas trees, if you haven't yet finished your Christmas cards, or if you have and you can't bear to contemplate any more festive foliage, any other kind of tree will be perfect! If you're a lateral thinker you might go for family trees, or shoe trees... or not! But whatever your arboreal aspirations, we want to see them!

Trees being one of my favourite topics, I have really been looking forward to this month! When I was at Stamp Magic in October, I couldn't resist buying the fabulous Inkylicious Christmas Tree Flourish, and that is what I've used for my card.

I stamped it with Versamark ink on to white card and embossed it with WOW Neutral Ultra Shimmer embossing powder, which gave it the most gorgeous shimmery sparkle which unfortunately is hard to see in the photo. I then covered the whole thing with Chipped Sapphire Distress Stain, which the embossed areas resisted, of course, and matted it first on to white card and then a piece coloured with the same Distress Stain. The computer generated sentiment was cut with a Nestie label die, and the little snowflakes with a Tonic Studios punch. Quite a simple design, but I don't think the tree needs anything more to complement it.

Our lovely sponsor this month is Visible Image, a British company based in South Wales, who have a fantastic range of stamps. They have given us this amazing selection for our prize.

So, if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning, show us your Treemendous creations. Just remember that your entry may be combined with no more than five other challenges (that's 6 in total including ours), otherwise sadly it will be ineligible. My talented teamies have come up with some brilliant inspiration for you, so don't forget to check it out on the Challenge Blog. I can't wait to see yours!

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!

Origami Christmas Tree

Yesterday Jules posted a brilliant tutorial on how to make an origami Christmas tree, which had been taught to her by a lady called Jo Unwin (for whom unfortunately I don't have a link.) I couldn't wait to try it, and here's the card I made with it.

I used one of the big (8" x8") square cards from Craftwork Cards for the base and stamped it with an Elusive Images stamp from the Grungy Brocade set. The patterned papers, including the one I made the tree with, and the sentiment, are all from the Artylicious Season's Greetings CDrom from Graphicus. The three little snowflakes were punched with a freebie punch which came with the December 2010 issue of Papercraft Inspirations magazine. Now, one might suppose that magazine freebies are not usually of the best quality, until one realises that this punch is made by Tonic Studios, and it actually works really well, as you can see by the detail.

I was very pleased with how the tree turned out, thanks to Jules's clear instructions, so if you fancy having a go too, hop over to Jules's blog and try it out.