A Beary Special Day!

A very quick share today of a Birthday card that I made for my nephew - guess how old??

I used the MFT Birthday Bears stamp set to create the scene that I coloured with Copics. I added the 2s to the banners using an old 7 Gypsies stamp set. Some ink sponging to create the background and some twine to add some fun to the banner. 

I will link up to a couple of places:

• MFT Sketch Challenge
• The Card Concept is featuring Woodland Animals
• Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday where we are celebrating Stamptember with stamps
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where we need to avoid patterned paper

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jill

AAA Cards - Word Play

It's time for another fun challenge at AAA Cards and this week, we are playing with words!

I don't know about you but I often focus on the "image" on a card and the sentiment is almost an afterthought. This is the challenge to reverse that thinking and make the sentiment the star of the show. Here is what I came up with:

My card uses a Memory Box die and foil. I bought the big variety pack of foil a while back but haven't really used it as much as I though I would - that being said, I really love the "rainbow" foil that came in  the pack and I thought that it would be really fun to use with the die to create this card. It took me a while to figure it all out - and it took a lot longer to do the card but I think that it was worth it - I love the look of the finished card. I used a piece of BeCreative double sided adhesive sheet and added the foil directly to one side. I then die cut the "adhesive foil" and carefully left everything in the die so I could remove the backing from each letter (this was the time consuming part!). I then laid the cardstock against the die so the letters stuck to the cardstock. I think that if I were to try this technique again, I would use a less intricate die!

So now it's your turn to play with words and have some fun with us at AAA Cards! For inspiration, make sure you check out the rest of the DT cards - there are some very fun and clever ideas!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jill

TIME OUT #40 - Reminder

Have you had a chance to CASE Tracey McNeeley's fabulous card yet? No - well don't worry there is still time....



Gorgeous inspiration! If you love it and want to check out more of Tracey's inspiring work, head over to her blog In My Creative Opinion.

Here is my take:

Last week, my take on Tracey's card was pretty literal - some might say blatant copying! So this week, I went in a very different direction. 

A couple of weeks ago, I shared a card that used some "found in my stash from I don't know where" skeleton leaves, and I really enjoyed layering them. I decided to pull them out again and focus on the pastel colours of Tracey's design. I also white heat embossed a flower on vellum (from Altenew's Persian Motifs) and then fussy cut it out. I have to confess that I spent forever layering the leaves and the flower until I came up with a layout that I actually liked! Everything was tucked behind a SSS Fog card stock strip with a Walter & Winnie sentiment.

I really hope that you take some TIME OUT to CASE Tracey's card but before you do, please make sure to check out the inspiration from the rest of the DT and our wonderful guest designer, Stempelfrida.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jill

Stained Glass Butterfly

A really quick share tonight:

I made this card using the MFT Abstract Background stamp. I love all the little triangles - they remind me of those puzzles that I used to do when I was a kid - where you had to shade in the shapes with a dot and it would reveal a picture. I was looking for a "picture" in this background and I eventually found this butterfly. I heat embossed the BG stamp in Liquid Platinum and then coloured using Distress Markers and water (Tumbled Glass, Abandoned Coral, Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimmon),  I added a liberal dose of Wink of Stella to the butterfly. The card was finished by heat embossing a MFT Brushstroke Birthday greeting in Liquid Platinum on vellum and wrapping around the card panel before mounting on a standard card base.

I will link up to a couple of places:

• MFT Superstar Challenge (just under the wire!)
• Virginia's View Geometric Challenge

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jill

TIME OUT - Casing Tracey McNeely

This week at Time Out, we have an absolutely fabulous card to CASE by the amazing Tracey McNeely:

Isn't it beautiful?! If you want to see more of Tracey's work, be sure to check out her blog In My Creative Opinion.

We also have an amazing guest designer this week - Stempelfrida - I am sure that you have seen her work but make sure you check out her blog - also called stempelfrida.


And my card:

 

I really loved the colour behind the vellum on Tracey's card, and that was the element that I really wanted to CASE. I used my Distress mini ink cubes to create the background. One at a time, I smooshed them onto a piece of acetate, spritzed them with water and then transferred the ink to a piece of water colour paper. This was my first attempt at this technique - and I think that I am in love! I love how you can control the splatter and the blending.... The colours turned out a little bit more vibrant than I planned (my ink cubes were very juicy!) but I still really like them.

I added the white heat embossed butterfly (Unity Stamp Co.) on top of the splatter, and then added the Walter and Winnie "celebrate" die cut. It was coated in Ranger Antiquities Cement embossing powder and heat embossed. The greeting was stamped in HA Soft Granite to match.

Thanks so much for stopping by and make sure that you take some Time Out to check out the other DT cards (so fabulous!) and play along with our challenge!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jill

One die - Two Cards

This post is all about the MFT Die-Namics Abstract Cover-Up Die and some of the fun I had playing with it. 

For the first card, I die cut the background from some freezer paper which I then adhered to a piece of watercolour paper. I then took my Gansai Tambi water colours, and a lot of water to create a very soft pastel background. After, I removed the mask, I added some die cut balloons - cut from silver paper and vellum - with some foam tape. Some silver thread and a silver heat-embossed greeting finished the card .

The second card that is completely different - bright colours and inlaid cutting. I die cut the background once from Neenah Solar White cardstock then pieced it all back together again. I flipped it upside down and carefully lined it up on the die before running it through my Big Shot again so that it created more "sections". Before piecing it back together again, I coloured each section with Copics (in rainbow order!) - with a little bit of shading. I added the greeting - heat-embossed with black sparkle powder - on some vellum to the card panel. I was debating whether I should add some sequins but ultimately decided that I wanted the design to be be the focus so I left them off... for now anyways ;)

 I will link up to a couple of places:

• My Favorite Things SuperStar Challenge
• Virginia's View Challenge where we need to make it geometric

Thanks for stopping by!

Jill

AAA Cards - Autumn Colours

It's time for another challenge at AAA Cards - and this week, we are challenging you to use Autumn Colours.

My card for this challenge is a little bit different than what I normally do. I was challenging myself to use some different material since we are doing a twist using fabric, and when I was looking through my stash of crafty stuff, I found a jumbo pack of skeleton leaves that bought a few years ago but that was still unopened. I thought they had a great vellum-like quality and some fun Autumn colours - not quite fabric but close enough :) I chose some of the bright Autumn coloured leaves and arranged them like a flower on a Simon Says stitched square die cut. I glued them in place with some multi medium and topped it off with a BoBunny "button". I then inlaid the die cut into a card front and finished off the card with a Walter and Winnie greeting stamped in HA Cup of Joe.

So now it's your turn to challenge yourself to try something different, use some Autumn colours and link up at AAA Cards!

Jill

Crazy Christmas Bird

I have a couple of cards to share today.

I finally broke out my Crazy Bird stamps - I bought them when they first came out but I only inked up the first one this weekend - for a Christmas card!

I stamped the scene using the holly and ornament using the Dylusions Christmas Borders stamps - I thought the bird would look cute as a Christmas robin looking questioningly at the ornament. The " 'tis the season" greeting is from Kelly Purkey. Everything was coloured with Zig Clean Brush pens (another first!) - and I added a few finishing Stickles on the holly berries and the ornament....

I will link this card up to a few places:

• Merry Monday is looking for holly cards
• Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge is also looking for holly cards
• One Layer Christmas Card Challenge - the twist this month is "family" so this one doesn't make that cut
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - use a stamp
• Addicted to Stamps and More where Anything Goes
• Happy Little Stampers CAS Clouring Challenge

The second card is the Birthday card for my youngest brother. He is a music lover so I couldn't resist this MFT Equalizer stencil.

I used three different colours of Distress Inks to create the equalizer pattern, and then I stamped the greeting (MFT -Keep on Rockin') on top of the design. I added a few die cut music notes on top - I covered them in Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents. I added the card front to a black black card base. 

I will link this card to:

• My Favorite Things Design Super Star Challenge 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jill

TIME - Make Your Mark Challenge - Reminder

Have you Made Your Mark at TIME OUT yet? If not, there's still lots of time to join in the fun.

The challenge is to use any kind of marker on your project - it can be Copics, water colours, chalks or any other marker. There is also an optional twist of using a monochrome colour palette which is sponsored by Uniko Studios.

If you haven't done so yet, please stop by and check out the cards of the rest of the team as well as our amazing talented guest designer this week, Marika.

For my card, I chose to do the monochrome twist - black and white with a tiny splash of aqua. 

I started out with Altenew's Hennah Elements stamp set. Lots of stamping, masking and white heat embossing on black card stock. Then I "made my mark" with a white chalk pencil to add some shading to the scene. I added a Clearly Besotted greeting - heat embossed with Aqua Zing - as well as a few MME enamel dots. I popped the panel up with fun foam onto a black card base. 


So now it's your turn to have fun and take some TIME OUT!





I will link up to a couple of places:

• Simon Says Wednesday Challenge where we need to use a stamp
• Addicted To Stamps And More where Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Congrats Shery!

Today's post is for Shery Russ - the owner and creative mind behind Stamplorations - a fabulous stamp and stencil company - as well as my TIME OUT teammate. Shery just delivered first child so this card is in congratulations and best wishes for her!

The stork is from Lawn Fawn, the greeting is from FIskars, and the stencil is from Stamplorations (of course!).  I stamped the stork first and coloured it with Copics, I then masked it and stenciled over. I stamped the greeting then covered the stork in a layer of Wink of Stella.

I will link this card up to the following challenges:

• Inkspirational where the challenge is one-layer cards

• CASe this Sketch - sketch shown below

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jill

TIME OUT - Make Your Mark Challenge

This is my first post as a TIME OUT DT member and I couldn't be more happy to talk about the challenge and our fabulous guest designer.  The challenge at TIME OUT this week is to "Make Your Mark" - this means that you need to use any kind of marker on your project - it can be Copics, water colours, chalks or any other marker. There is also an optional twist of using a monochrome colour palette which is sponsored by Uniko Studios. 

Our GD this week is absolutely amazing - Marika of Me and Mini Me Crafting is truly an artist. She really brings her cards life with her colouring skills so please stop by her blog to check out her fabulous creations - you won't be disappointed! 

Here's my take on the challenge:

The card that I made this week was for some friends in Austria. We spent a week in Tuscany with them earlier this summer, and while we were there, we got into quite a detailed discussion about our local birds. I wanted to send them a card that highlighted our Canadian birds so I used the Stamplorations "The Birds and the Blooms"to stamp each of the birds (masked to fit the film strip). I coloured the birds with Copics  - I did "customize" the hummingbird to make it a ruby-throated hummingbird (our local friend!). I then added some white on white die cuts to create the scene using the Pretty Pink Posh film strip die and some Memory Box branches dies.  I finished off with an Altenew sentiment heat embossed in Liquid Platinum. 

I repeated the card but I used the "blooms" from the set for the second card: 

I will link up to:

• Stamplorations Anything Goes Challenge
• Happy Little Stampers September Challenge on colouring

So now it's your turn to Make Your Mark and link up at TIME OUT!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Jill