Sunday 28 June 2015

Going Nautical


Hi buddies
Another late post on a Sunday following a crazy few days - another
University visit with our daughter on Friday then my parents have
spent the weekend with us too.

I've a card to share with a nautical theme which I'd like to enter
at CASology and I had hoped to enter at The Challenge
but it seems that I've 'missed the boat'!!!! 



I know the sea is normally 'blue' but I've turned this on it's head
and we've got the 'red' sea!

Card Recipe:
Clearly Besotted: Best Dad & Going Places stamps & Dies
Josy Rose: nail heads
Strips of card stock sliced at different thickness

So that's it for me today but hope to post a card or two 
during the week if I can manage it.

Thanks for stopping by and see you soon.

Sarah

Saturday 27 June 2015

Uniko: Farewell to Sandie!


Morning all! As the title suggests we are saying
farewell to another teamie over at Uniko today
Sandie of London Days has decided to step down
from the design team and I know she'll be missed incredibly. 

In the short time she has been on the DT she has whipped us all into shape 
and organised everything as Bev's co-captain / captainess and she's been brilliant.

On a personal note we've become quite close blog buddies, being
on both Uniko and ATSM DTs together. We share lots of 'cyber' giggles 
and I'll definitely be watching out for her super talent in blogland 
and her smiley face on the comment galleries -
as she tends to be ahead of me everywhere!

Here's a card I've made to wish her well, good luck and 
huge success in whatever you do in the future Sandie.


Card Recipe:
Obviously Uniko stamps all the way!
All Occasion Sentiments, Flower Power images and Background Builders Vines
Plus a diagonal stitched rectangular die from MFT Die-Namics.

Some of the Uniko DT have farewell cards to share
so please check out the blog HERE for more details.

Thanks for calling by and hope to see you soon.

Sarah

Less is More #230

Morning friends it's that time of the week again...
Saturday morning 8am UK time! 

New challenge at Less is More

This week we have a sketch for you and please feel free to flip/rotate it 
so long as we can see the that it resembles the original.

So here's my cards followed by the sketch


I've turned the sketch on it's head with the smaller panel at the top
and also used landscape rectangles rather than portrait ones. The images from
Paper Smooches: Briny Blue which are coloured using Stabilo Markers
with water, twinkled with Winks of Stella and Glossy Accents.
Rectangles die-cut using MFT Die-Namics pierced rectangle dies
and the 'birthday wishes' sentiment is from Clearly Besotted



It's an Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp
this week so I'm heading over there with my card too.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog


Here's another Christmas card - I'm trying to stick with my
New Years Resolution so my little box of Christmas cards is
steadily bulging but still a way to go!


A bit of a crazy image but it's to enter over at Merry Monday too
where they'd like us to use a 'funky' hat on our Christmas card this week.
I'm not sure about 'funky' but certainly 'silly'!

I've used Clearly Besotted: Let it snow stamps and a 
sentiment from Uniko: Simply Said Christmas
The cloudy sky is created using a home-made die-cut stencil
using Mama Elephant: Landscape Trio Dies and linked with
Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. To finish I've added some glamour dust
and glossy accents for added interest.



Ok crafty buddies it's your turn and let's see what you make
of this week's challenge. I'll be back a little later with another card
so if you've time to pop back I'd be very grateful.

Thanks as always for stopping by.


Sarah

Friday 26 June 2015

Uniko: Challenge #22 Reminder


Morning crafty pals, I'm here with a little reminder about the 
latest challenge at Uniko as there's still time to join in.

It's an Anything Goes Challenge with the 
optional twist of Masculine

I seem to have gone a little Balloon-mad in the last week or so
but they are so versatile so here's another one!

Using Balloon Bash and A Gift for You stamp sets. 
Teamed with a banner die from WPlus9 and a grid stencil from My Favourite Things 
inked with Distress ink in Tumbled Glass after masking the balloons


I do hope you get chance to play along and there's more inspiration
from the rest of the DT plus our amazing Guest Designers (Anita & Melissa)
Details are on the Uniko blog HERE

So before you dash off to get inky I'll just remind you of the 
fantastic prizes up for grabs if you take part as they've changed
a little this month and you have until Friday, 3rd July at 8am BST to link up:

The Design Team will choose a winner who will receive a £10 Uniko gift voucher

The top 3 choices will receive 50 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

There's also a random draw for those who use a Uniko stamp and this winner will receive
 150 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

Finally for those who twist with us (masculine card) there's another random drawer
 and they will receive 100 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.


Thanks as always for stopping by and I'll be back tomorrow
with the latest challenge from Less is More so hope to see you then



Sarah

Sunday 21 June 2015

Sunday Catch Up


Morning All I'm on catch up today as I've spent
the last 2 days visiting universities with our daughter.
We've had some pretty long and full on days so not
been in my usual commenting and creating routine!

Here in the UK it's Father's Day today so we have the 
in-laws visiting shortly but I wanted to post these cards
to enter a few challenges first.

First up is my entry for this week's Muse Card Challenge.
I love the balloon style Marion has used and I've kept quite
close to her card style and colour this week. It's Marion's last week
at Muse so I simply had to play along. She's been an awesome source
of inspiration to me with her cards since I started playing along.
I love her use of colours and brilliant designs.


Card Recipe:
Paper Smooches: Balloon Dies
Clearly Besotted: Mini Basic Banner sentiments & matching die
Glossy Accents and Embroidery thread for added detail


I'd also like to link this card up at Freshly Made Sketches and
CASology: Kids - I mean kids always love balloons don't they!

  

    




Next up is to enter at Addicted to CAS where the codeword is 'SPLASH'
along with Happy Little Stampers where it's 'sprays and mists' this month.


I started out by using a Memory Box butterfly Stencil, inking through it with
blue/green shades of distress inks then removing the stencil and 'spritzing/misting'
using a home-made spray of water and perfect pearls to add some shimmer.
Once dry I've added splashes of water to the butterflies to re-activate the inks
and form splashes and sprays of colour.
The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted: it's your birthday
and I've added a strip of DP from Doodlebug in a coordinating colour.


   


Thanks as always for stopping by and hope you have a good day


Sarah

AAA Cards Challenge #42


Morning friends I'm back with a new challenge for
AAA Cards and this week we'd like you to use
  
Paste and / or a stencil
If you saw my Less is More post yesterday this is a 
pure coincidence to me too and the draw-back to being
on more than one team! So whatever you create this week maybe
you could also pop your entry in at the LIM gallery too providing
you adhere to the guidelines for both challenges.
We've also got a super talented guest designer with us for this challenge;
Shona of Twinearound so I do hope you'll pop across to check out her
 brilliant designs and leave her some friendly comments
Here's my card using coloured embossing paste with a
stencil from Memory Box called 'Ornate Texture'

Card Recipe:
Memory Box Stencil
Distress Inks: Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey & Abandoned Coral 
to colour the embossing paste which also has Hero Arts Clear Sparkle EP on top
I decided to made the panel into a mosaic tile pattern then added some sequins 
for extra interest. The Happy word die is from Hero Arts along with the 
birthday sentiment which is heat-embossed with Hero Arts white ep.


I'd also like to link this up at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
- my second entry as I do love stencilling and combined with DIs - 
well it just works for me and lets the imagination flow!
To be perfectly honest I don't think there's anything in the field of 
card making that I don't love - everything is so pretty, sparkling and yummy!
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog 

Don't forget to check out the superb creations by the rest of the AAA Cards DT 
over on the main blog and thanks as always for stopping by.
Happy crafting and I can't wait to see your ingenious designs. 

Sarah

Saturday 20 June 2015

Less is More #229


Hi there friends it's that time again - the latest challenge at 

Less is More

This week we'd like you to use some stencilling on 
your project and please remember to keep it Clean and Simple too.

Here's my cards


Card Recipe:
Simon Says Stamp: Mosaic Ornaments inked with
Ranger Dye Inks then clear embossed to add some shine
Uniko Studio: Balloon Bash and sentiment from
Clearly Besotted: Christmas Sparkle

I'd like to skip over to Merry Monday Christmas Challenge

It's a 'red and white' theme at Merry Monday
and describe your favourite technique and product at SSS.
So whenever I can add water-colouring to a project 
especially using Distress Inks and possibly stencilling would be 
the most enjoyable and satisfying techniques for me to use.

I did find it quite tricky however to showcase stencils whilst keeping 
to that all important CAS and white space for Less is More. 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog   





Card Recipe:
 My Favourite Things: Rose Builder stencil with embossing paste 
coloured with DIs in Picked Raspberry and Mowed Lawn
then a sprinkling of glamour dust to the leaves
The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted: Say it in Style


For my last one I wanted to try out a technique showcased by the wonderful 
Jennifer McGuire HERE. Again I think this would have looked better if I 
could have filled the whole card front with the stencilled panel rather than
maintaining the area of 'white space' at the top.


Card Recipe:
Memory Box: Ornate Texture stencil
Inked with Hero Arts white pigment ink and Memento Bahama Blue
Clearly Besotted: It's Your Birthday sentiment on a 
Nestabilities Scalloped Circle die with a circle of vellum behind,
some embroidery thread in silver then finished with gems and sequins.



Ok time to hand over to you crafty people and don't forget 
to check out the rest of the DT over on the LIM blog
for more inspiration.

Thanks as always for calling by and I'll be back tomorrow
with the latest challenge details from AAA Cards.


Sarah

Friday 19 June 2015

Uniko Studio - Challenge #22

Morning Crafty pals I'm here with a new challenge for Uniko 
along with a little Uniko news which you may or may not have heard!

Bev has been busy re-designing and re-branding the Uniko website 
so I hope you'll get time to take a good look around the new fresh look 
site HERE - there's even a brand new loyalty scheme for customers and 
as a result the challenge prizes have changed a little!
So ... read on for more details!

For this month's challenge we've got 
Anything Goes: optional twist - Masculine card
If you do 'twist' then there's an additional random draw - details below

Here's my card using several Uniko sets: 
Background Builders: Circles
All Occasion Sentiments #2 'Happy'
Simply Said Birthday 'Birthday'



I hope you get chance to play along and do remember there's more fabulous
inspiration from the design team; details over on the Uniko blog

AND, here's the important prize stuff you can look forward to if you join

 The Design Team will select a winner who receives a £10 gift voucher for Uniko

Our Top 3 will receive 50 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

The winner of our random draw for those who used a Uniko stamp 
will receive 150 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

The winner of our random draw for those who twist with us (masculine card) 
will receive 100 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.


Before you race off to play we've got some additional inspiration from 
our guest designers for this challenge
Anita, My Papercraft World and Melissa, Honeybeelane

 If you've never visited their blogs before then please do as they have 
immense talent and I'm sure they'd love a friendly comment.


As always thanks for stopping by today and I'll be back 
tomorrow with another challenge from Less is More

Bye for now!

Sarah

Wednesday 17 June 2015

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #149 - 3rd Birthday

Hi blog friends - this week it's celebration time over at 

Addicted to Stamps and More 

Addicted to Stamps and More!

We've reached our 3rd birthday!
and it's CAS week (Clean & Simple)
so I hope you'll get chance to play along.

This post is tinged with a little sadness though as it's my last post for ATSM.
I'm stepping down from the Design Team at the end of this month. 
It's been loads of fun and the team are FABulous! Talented and incredibly friendly.

... on the flip side, I'm joining the Addicted to CAS Design team
from the beginning of July and the terrifically talented Kylie heads 
that team too so I imagine more great times ahead.
Hope you'll visit me and play along there too.


So onto my card and I'm using a sponsor digi image today
called Birthday Penguin Cupcake from Bugaboo



Now let me tell you about our brilliant sponsors and prizes for this birthday week!

Up for grabs we have ....
$12 gift certificates from A Day for Daisies and Sami Stamp Shop,
7 digis from Bugaboo Digi stamps and 3 digis from STAMPlorations

WOW! What more encouragement do you need to join this party?
BUT please remember to head over to the ATSM blog first
as there's more stunning inspiration from the design team.

I'd like to thank them all for making me so welcome on the
team and for being just totally awesome! 


Thanks as always for calling by and happy crafting.
Looking forward to seeing your creations this week!



Sarah

Sunday 14 June 2015

Flying By ....


Hi, it's another late Sunday night post from me and I'm 
literally flying in with a couple of cards to enter at challenges

First up is for this week's Muse Card Club and 
at first glance of Michele's card I thought
 'Yep! that's looking good and achievable'
BUT when I put stamp to paper etc I just can't seem to get a grip.

So this week I think I've stepped way off the mark, 
I was inspired by the stunning mix of blue and green 
plus the scripty sentiment and big flower centres 


Card Recipe:
Hero Arts: Stamp & Cut Happy set
Clearly Besotted: Pretty Petals Plus
Ranger: Dye Inks and I've even inked up a piece of card
with matching ink to make the border panel which is die cut
using MFT Die-Namics Stitched Basic edges
To finish some glossy accents to the flower centres

Here's Michele's Muse card




The next card is a challenge combo for 
CAS(E) This Sketch and Card Concept


This week's clean and simple sketch including butterfly
really set my mojo into action and I adore those ombre butterflies
in the photo inspiration at the Card Concept so I've combined both
and even inked up my Hero Arts Ombre ink for the second time!

Card Recipe:
Clearly Besotted: Building Blocks - cropped with 
MFT Die-Namics: Stitched Square Dies
Clearly Besotted: Elegant Butterflies inked in the same ombre ink
with added glossy accents for definition.
The sentiment is also CBS from the In The Frame set

   



Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll catch up with you soon

Sarah

Saturday 13 June 2015

Less is More #228


Morning all I'm back with the new challenge details for 

Less is More 
and this week it's a One Layer Card with a Home theme

So let your imagination take you away ... unlike me sticking
with 2 Good Luck in Your New Home ones! 

We are having a mini and I guess a short-lived heatwave in 
the UK so it's hard to craft when the sun is beating down because
we get so little we really need to make the most of it!
Hence my first card features digi images which I rarely use


I found this one in my stash from Pollycraft and I love all the 
colours and wonky style. My sentiment is from the super talented 
Hannelie - Desert Diva who kindly allowed me to use her perfect 
image ... as soon as I saw the font and style on her card from last week
HERE I thought it would work brilliantly with this image.




Next up I was blown away by all your fabulous creations for
out Sunset challenge last week and I couldn't resist getting those 
colours in my card again - especially with this sunny weather here.


Card Recipe:
Distress Inks: Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilised Amber, Spiced Marmalade & Festive Berries
Clearly Besotted Stamps: Naughty or Nice - I've used the reverse of the stamp from this Christmas set
and the sentiment is from the Everything Changes butterfly set that was released recently.
Uniko Studio: Natures Treasures for the grasses



My last one is for a bit of a giggle really but I did NEED
a New home card for my sister and brother-in-law


So their surname is 'Tudor' very regal, hence the Castle image
and my niece is a 4 year old Disney princess so I hope she'll love this.

Card Recipe:
Lawn Fawn: Life is Good (sand-castle image) coloured with stabilo markers
Clearly Besotted: Home Sweet Home sentiments and Design a Tree set
Distress Inks: Cracked Pistachio and Tumbled Glass for a delicate
water-colour wash above and below the castle.


Ok I'm handing over to you talented bunch and excited
to see your creations this week.
Thanks for stopping by and hope you get to enjoy some
sunshine as well as crafting.
Sarah

Thursday 11 June 2015

Uniko Studio: Revisiting Pure Florals - Gerbera


Morning Friends, I'm here with a post for Uniko and
this month Bev and the Design team are revisiting a previously
released stamp set; this time it's the ever popular 

Pure Florals - Gerbera

It's certainly one of my 'go to' floral sets and I know many
of you out there own this set too, working your magic with it every time.

We also have some fantastic news - so before I show you my card
I'd like to welcome the newest addition to the Uniko Design Team;

Jane of purplejetlovescrafts

Jane also happens to be one of my fellow teamies at AAA Cards
so I know she's amazingly talented and a very kind and super organised lady
I do hope you'll pop across to her blog and leave her some love.

So onto my card and I've teamed the gerbera images with a 
sentiment from the Simply Said - Birthday set.

It's a watercoloured background using distress ink in Tumbled Glass
and the blooms are coloured using Stabilo Markers and water then
winked with stella for some added sparkle.


I hope you like how I've used the set and please remember to leave a 
comment for each of the design team members to be eligible for entry to 
the blog hop prize of this set or a Uniko gift voucher to the same value.

Beverley - Uniko
Sarah P (that's Me)

For more details please head over to the main Uniko blog 
Thanks as always for stopping by and I'll see you all soon.

Sarah

Wednesday 10 June 2015

Time to Happy Dance ....


Hi All I'm here super early, in the UK, 
well hopefully Mr Blogger is 'here' on my behalf to make a 
LITTLE announcement and I'm squealing with delight because
I've been invited to join the brilliant design team over at 

Addicted to CAS
Displaying Addicted to CAS Design Team badge.jpg

I can't wait to get stuck in and join the party in a few weeks time!
The 4th July to be exact and what a fantastic day to celebrate a new team. 

There's lots of amazing talent already and some new faces too.
I can't wait to get to know them all and I do hope you'll stop by 
the ATCAS blog HERE to check out the new team.

So it wouldn't be a proper post without a card to share so 
I've made a card to join the current ATCAS challenge - Butterfly



I've used the sketch from the current challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch
so I'll be hopping across there when the alarm goes off!


I can't get enough of these gorgeous butterflies from Clearly Besotted
which are heat embossed in WOW: Brass sparkle along with the
outer frame and the die-cut 'Happy' from Hero Arts
The images are water coloured with Stabilo Markers with a 
delicate washed background of Cracked Pistachio distress ink.

Thanks as always for stopping by and have a wonderful day.
Sarah