April Challenge Winners

Sketch challenges can often be a little tricky but you all seemed to have had lots of fun with ours this month - we had some superb entries!

This month our winner is Maria with her gorgeous koi card!  We thought Maria's use of the sketch was very clever - there is lots of movement and bold colour - all in all a super-fun card!

Get in touch using the online form on the store Maria to claim your £20 store voucher!

Our runners up also were really creative with the sketch.

Beatriz from Ink and Paw Prints made this really super cute ninja card - we loved how the central ninja is sliding down the string which forms the diagonals in the sketch in this card!

Gothic Lolita made this really bright and jolly kids birthday card and we loved how the created the diagonals by masking out areas in her gorgeous rainbow background stamping.

We loved how Charlotte used the rainbow to form her diagonals paired to perfection with the central rainy element complete with cute critter!

Congratulations to all of you who made our short list this month - do display your winners badge on your blogs.

If you didn't win - don't despair - we'll be back tomorrow with a colour challenge and another chance to win £20!

Faux Embossed Popsicles

As it's almost May and a typically chilly bank holiday weekend I find myself wishing for sunshine and the arrival of summer so I've gone for a summery themed card today.

It's quite a simple card but was fun to make and the sentiment really makes me giggle!  I used the Cool Treats die set from Paper Smooches to create both the focal point popsicle and the embossed background.  I like the embossing folder look but often you can't find a folder that had the images you need, so you can create the same look by simply cutting die cuts from the same card stock as your card base and laying them down in a repeat pattern (having stick-it on the back before you start die cutting makes this process a whole lot easier and quicker!)  Lay them down dry first to get them even - having some fall off the edge makes it look more like a real embossed design rather than a faux one.

To create the focal point popsicle I die cut 3 layers in kraft and a top layer from some ancient shiny card stock but you could use any card you like and add clear embossing to get the shine which is what I did to get the shiny stick.

The sentiment comes from Paper Smooches Summer Sampler which has some great seasonal sentiments some, like this one, with a humorous twist!

NEWS FROM THE STORE

I'll be back this afternoon to announce the winner of our current challenge and our May colour themed challenge will launch tomorrow afternoon!

We'll have some new releases in store this week providing they don't get stuck too long with customs being closed on Monday.........

• There is a new release, as usual on the first Wednesday of the month, from MFT.  We hope to have it for launch on Wednesday but the bank holiday may slow our usual delivery down and we may not actually get it until Wednesday afternoon and we then need time to open and check and sort it.  We'll get it online as quickly as we can!
• The new release from Wplus9 goes live on the 5th May and we should have our delivery by then.  We have some restocks coming too.
• We are waiting for our orders from Waffle Flower Crafts and Neat and Tangled to ship but we hope to have them soon.
• We have some restocks from Altenew on order along with the new Aster Build-A-Flower set and the ink cube labels which we have been asked for.  Again - we are waiting on shipping but we hope to have it within the next week or two.

Enjoy your long weekend - hope you get some extra crafting time!

Tara

Birthday Bear Hugs

Hey stampers, Anni here.

I had this die called Tree Border Die by W Plus 9 in my stash for quite some time and was dying to use it. I think it is so cute with the stitched elements and the possibility to cut extra tree crowns to add them with dimensional adhesive.

So I went through my stash to find a stamp set that would work with this tree border. My Favorite Things' Forest Friends is just the perfect match, I think. I staretd by  stamping, colouring with alcohol markers and fussy cutting (coordinating dies are available, too) the adorable bear.

I die cut the tree border from white paper and dyed it with some ink blending. I used a lighter green for the grass and a darker green for the trees. To add the trunk I used a brown pen.

For the frame I used My Favorite Things' Stitched Oval Scallop Frames. I die cut it a few times form white cardstock and stacked them up.
To finish up my card I heat embossed the sentiment in white on a stripe of brown cardstock and cut it into a banner shape.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.
Anni

   

Making a Splash on an inky sea.

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I'm making a sweet birthday splash...

...using My Favourite Thing's adorable, 'Soak up the fun'.

I started by stamping out and colouring these cheeky little monkeys in their cute little banana boat using Zig Clean Colour Pens then fussy-cut, using a scalpel to get to the inner parts.  The 'Soak The Fun' set these fun guys are from is so brilliant, absolutely jam packed with adorable critters and creatures!  I then moved on to creating my background.  I knew I wanted them bobbing about on the sea, but I don't have any wave stamps or dies in my stash, so instead, I cut the cloud border from Mama Elephant's Landscape Trio Creative Cuts from some thick card, turned it upside down to use as a mask, and softly blended a few different blues to create a nice wavey background, adding a few flicks and splashes of ink for extra interest.

I loved how my background turned out but wanted my boat to be behind a wave as oppose to just sitting on top, I also, however, wanted to keep as few layers as possible, so instead of adding extra bulk, I simply cut around one of the waves with a scalpel, and slotted my little monkey filled fun boat behind :)

My sentiment is stamped directly onto my card front in black ink and clear embossed.  I then added a couple of cute balloons to give a little extra oomph and an added pop of colour.  My balloons are from My Favourite Thing's Somebunny set, stamped out, coloured using Zig's, and fussy-cut.  I then added string from the monkeys to the balloons just for a little added cute.

I'm really happy with how this card came out, and think these little monkeys are cute enough to put a smile on anyone's face and fun enough to make a splash on anyone's birthday!

As always, everything I used is linked below so be sure to have a peek.

See you next week.

Jillx

Three Small Steps, One Cosmic Card

Hello, I'm back for an extra day this week with a space themed birthday card.

My nephew turns 3 next month and has recently become fascinated with the planets of the solar system. A perfect opportunity for me to make him a space themed card!

Step 1 - the background

I began by creating a galaxy background for my card. I used distress inks and lots of white paint. It was a lot of fun to make!

I white heat embossed a greeting on the galaxy panel. The sentiments in the Lawn Fawn Out Of This World stamp set are brilliant!

Step 2 - the images

I stamped and coloured all the images from the Lawn Fawn Out Of This World stamp set. I fussy cut them out and added Wink of Stella clear glitter to all the planets, and glossy accents to the astronauts helmet and space rocket window.

I used some foam squares behind the rocket but everything else on the card is attached with liquid adhesive.

Step 3 - the slider

I used a die from the Lawn Fawn Slide On Over dies to create a slider element in my card. The die cut piece can be added to the card base to hide the slider better.

I added three layers of foam tape behind the panel, leaving space for a penny to move in the slider. I added two MFT slide discs to the penny for the slider mechanism. To keep things moving smoothly, I covered the edges of the foam with powder to stop the penny sticking, before adding the panel to a card base.

Before adding the astronaut to the slider, I attached some twine behind him, with the other end of the twine attached to the space rocket. 

Three small steps, one cosmic card!

Thanks for joining me. Have a lovely day,

Gemma

Lawn Fawn Out of This World 

Lawn Fawn Slide on Over

MFT Spin and Slide Discs

Hero Arts White Embossing Powder

Lawn Fawn Silver Sparkle Twine

Rainbow card with My Favorite Things Beautiful Butterflies

Hi everyone, it's Esther here with a rainbow birthday card featuring My Favorite Things Beautiful Butterflies.

I started by blending dye inks round the edge of a panel. I splattered this with water, mopped it up and let it dry. I then die cut it using the largest of the Lawn Fawn Large Stitched Rectangles and set it to one side.

I cut a new panel using the second largest of the stitched rectangles and stamped "Make A Wish" using My Favorite Things Count The Stars. I stuck this at an angle to the rainbow panel.

Finally I stamped, ink splattered and die cut with the matching dies some butterflies from My Favorite Things Beautiful Butterflies. I added these to the card and popped the whole lot on to a top folding card base.

That's all for this week - see you next time and thanks for looking!

      

Seasons

I love to see all the beautiful blossom on the trees in spring. The changing seasons each have their own beauty, and that inspired my card today.

 

On a piece of white card, I first used the Lil'Inker Quilted Swirl Stitched pattern die to add some pretty detail before die cutting the tree tops from the MFT Trees in the Forest die-namics. 

I had a similar idea for the tree trunks and branches, using the Lil'Inker stitched woodgrain cover die to add detail first. They ended up being too small to really see the detail of the cover die, but the idea would work well for larger tree dies, I'm sure.

Next, I used MFT inks to add colour to the die cuts. For the winter trees, I kept them white but added some clear glitter to represent snow.

I created four square frames by die cutting two of the Lawn Fawn Stitched Squares together. To add some colour behind the frames, I die cut some squares from a piece of blue MFT watercolour wash paper. 

I layered the frames and background papers, then added them to the card with foam tape. Then I attached the trees to the card with liquid adhesive.

Finally, I stamped a sentiment from the MFT Essential Sentiments stamp set. 

Thanks for joining me today.

Gemma

  

MFT Trees in Forest

MFT Watercolour Wash Papers

Lil'Inker Quilted Swirl Die

Lawn Fawn Large Stitched Squares

MFT Essential Sentiments

Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Squares