August Challenge Winners

Well it seems as if we had you all geometrically challenged this month - we had some great entries and some brilliant "outside the box" thinking when you didn't have geometric supplies to hand.  I love how challenges stretch us as crafters.

Our winner this month created an amazing effect through colouring which had us all thinking it was a 3D embossed card the detail is so fantastic.  That entry belongs to AL Handmade - Congrats!  Drop me an email via the store to collect your voucher.

Our runners up this month were, in order of entry, Ashwini, Tallies Corner and Sabina F.

We loved Ashwini's playful take on the challenge with an almost Warhol look to the layered up images on the coloured backgrounds.

Tallie's entry impressed as she had no geometric supplies to hand so created her own square stencil to make her geometric background paper.

We loved Sabina's double layer of geometric cloud and rain and the tiny peeks of geometry on the background card too.

Thanks for playing along ladies.  Do take your winners badge for your blogs.

If you didn't win this month - don't despair we'll be back tomorrow with a brand new challenge and September brings a sketch for you to play with.

In Bloom: Renee's Leaves Watercolour wonder

Hello.

Today I have a card featuring Winnie and Walter's  In bloom:Renee's leaves stamp set.

To start I stamped the image onto water colour card with versamark and then heat embossed in platinum.

Then using the Gansai tambi water colours I coloured the images really loosely.

I let it all dry then added splashes of the white gold from the starry colours set.

The panel was die cut with Lawn fawns stitched rectangles and also a smaller rectangle of vellum.

For the sentiment I used Lawn fawns scripty thanks die. 

Its cut from water colour card and then coloured with the white gold water colour.

I adhered to the vellum and then added the same adhesive on the reverse of the vellum so nothing shows through once everything is put together.

To finish I added more splashes of the white gold.

 

Thanks for looking.

Fa-la-la-la-la......

I'm back with you filling in whilst we look for someone to fill Keren's rather amazing shoes!   You have just a couple of days left if you want to throw your hat in for the DT call btw.  We've had quite a few already so it is likely that I will take September to read through the blogs and make a decision and we'll have new blood for you in October.

So for today, I thought I'd make a start on Christmas cards with the new Lawn Fawn release and I realised that the dies to match Winter Big Scripty Words can be used solo and have enough impact to be the focal point on a card.  I took the fa-la-la die and cut the la-la 3 more times to complete my phrase!

I used a snowflake embossing folder (from my stash but we have some new Echo Park ones coming this week) on mermaid cardstock and trimmed to fit my card front with a small white border.  I used my favourite Holly die, from Reverse Confetti to just add a little accent - et voila, quick simple Christmas card with lots of impact that is pretty easy to mass produce if you need to make a lot of cards!  If you didn't want to die cut - you could use the matching stamp and selectively ink it to get the same longer message.

See you Sunday!

Tara

Computer says.......?

Hello there :)
I hope you're enjoying the Bank Holiday Weekend?

My card today is an idea I've had in my head for a while... I think I first saw this design, with a different message, printed onto a T-shirt and thought it would make a fun interactive card.

It's a very simple pull tab card which makes the task bar fill with colour....

I used a computer from Blogging Buddies embossed in white on grey card, I cut the screen portion out so I could cut a slit in the card panel below. To cut the slit I used a small die from Blueprints 16 but you can easily use a ruler and knife instead. After making the task bar I masked of the screen area over it and inked through the Concentric Circle stencil to create a colourful background.
I added the images with foam squares and stamped out my message with Bella Letters from Mama Elephant.

This is how I assembled the pull tab on the back of the panel...

I inked a portion of the pull tab and trimmed it to a long 'T' shape.... this prevents the tab from being pulled out completely.

Apologies this picture is a little blurry but you can still see how the foam tape makes a channel for the tab and the end piece of foam stopping the tab from pushing out beyond the panel. I stacked three lengths of card together and adhered them to the back of the tab so it was the same height as the foam tape. Below you can see how the tab sits when pulled fully out :)

and just in case you wondered what the loading message was, here's the inside...

I hope the photos helped... this is the same method I used for the Interactive Smoothie card I made a few months back.... that was a Bank Holiday Monday project too!!! 

      

                                        

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

My World

I have a simple interactive card to share today - as soon as I saw the fabulous Big World stamp set from Altenew I knew I had to make a spinner card.

I stamped the side of world with the UK using just two shades of ink - Caribbean Sky and Forest Glades.  For the second layer of "land" I used the same green just to add a little depth rather than a completely different colour.  I die cut with a circle die which gave just a small white border.  For the base card I used a black DL card and cut a panel just half a centimeter smaller.  I drew a light pencil line around the world so I could find the centre from which I die cut a small circle.  I then used a white pencil to create an earthly glow blending it out with odourless blender and adding clear wink of stella.

To create the spinning globe I cut two more circles (bigger than the hole) from any scrap card as it won't be seen.  Pop one behind the panel and use a single spinning disc with a strong wet glue before adding the second on top.  Allow to dry, ensure its spinning freely then secure the globe to the front.

I embossed the sentiments from the same stamp set in white and finished with die cut silver stars and some white dots using a gel pen and edging the panel with a silver ink pad.  I used foam squares on the back of the panel to take the depth of the spinner so the globe spins on the card.

NEWS FROM THE STORE

This week we will have:

• the Christmas collections from Echo Park 
• the new release from Newton's Nook
• and hopefully by the end of the week the new release from SugarPea Designs

•  We are still waiting on Hero Arts - both the colour layering catalogue and the winter catalogue are marked as "expected late August" on the distributors website.  As the quantities you have to buy months to buy direct from Hero Arts are huge, I have to buy via the ONLY UK distributor and cannot buy direct which often leads to delays.  I buy direct from all the other brands but can't get around this.  Sorry - I am doing my best and will make it live as soon as I get it!   Hopefully it won't be much longer.

• Some Lawn Fawn items have already sold out from the new release so we will be ordering more after the bank holiday which should be here by mid September.

Enjoy the long bank holiday weekend if you're somewhere that has it!

Tara

Vibrant Spring Card with Fall Florals

Aloha, crafty friends! I feel this card today is so tropical that I cannot use any other type of greeting. Despite, at the time I was making this card, being less than a month away from the first of my two moves (so this was early January), I decided to buy some of the My Favorite Things Dye inks which had just come to Seven Hills Crafts. And I was not disappointed – these dye inks area vibrant and give great coverage right away unlike the HA inks which get muted and need to smooth out, sometimes blurring finer details. Armed with these new inks I was finally motivated to use my My Favorite Things Fall Florals stamp set for a spring card (because at the time of making this card, spring was the season coming up :)

I started out by die cutting a panel from linen card stock and sponging on some Distress Ink in fresh colors, then spritzing it generously with my trusty water+Perfect Pearl solution to make the ink run and blend. I used my fingers to move it around even more – loved getting messy here :)

Stamping the floral images was fun, but fussy cutting them certainly wasn't. The downside of my Scan n Cut is that when you use light inks to stamp your images, it doesn't see them and therefore can't cut them. You can create cutting templates, but if you want a border around them, the minimum is 3mm and not 1mm as you'd get if you'd cut directly (and not from a saved shape). So, I might spring for the dies for this set after all.

Overall, I am happy with the card even if the fussy cutting did nothing for the state of my hands. But the new inks – so lush, so vibrant, and no longer anxious waiting to see how the stamped image would eventually turn out. Don't confuse the dye inks with the hybrid inks, though! The hybrid inks are much paler, and I wasn't happy with them (save for Licorice, my go-to black). So, if you want fresh, vibrant colors with great coverage, go for the dye inks!

Have a great day!

Fall Florals	Whimsical Wishes	Sunshine Layers Die	Stitched Mini Scallop Circle STAX	Altenew Summer Afternoon Ink Cubes
Pink Lemonade	Razzleberry	Snow Cone	Summer Splash

InLinkz.com

A Fancy Frilly Fringe.

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week I've got some fancy frilly fringing for you...

Using the gorgeous new Fringe Dienamic from My Favourite Things.

I don't have anything like this in my stash already, so just HAD to have it.

I started by stamping out and white heat embossing the beautiful Lace Background from My Favourite Things on two pieces of card.  I then watered down some purple ink and washed it across one piece for my background, using the embossing as a resist.  I washed another piece of card in the same ink to cut my cute little fringes from, and added a few little flicks and splatters of white and shimmery sprays to add a little interest.

 

I used my other heat embossed card to cut my 'thanks' sentiment from, using Lawn Fawn's Scripty Thanks Die, and this sweet Tiny Bow from Waffle Flower, (soooo cute).  I wanted to use the embossed card for my sentiment and bow etc for the added texture, I thought it would add a little extra fanciness to match the fancy frills!

I used Lawn Fawn's Small Stitched Rectangles to cut my panel so everything was all neat and precise, and also because, hands up, I'm addicted to them.  They just give such a nice finish to your card.

 

I also cut the fringe from a piece of white card to break the colour up a little, and adhered everything in place.

With all the lace and the fringes, and all that jazz, I felt my card had enough going on so skipped embellishments and left it there.

I LOVE this new die, and think it will look awesome cut from some gorgeous patterned papers, so can't wait to give it a try.

I really hope you like it, and as always, everything I used is linked below.

See you next week.

Jillx