52CCT - Colours ....

.... Hello from an arctic cold and rather snowy Northville. The weather is just right for making Christmas/winter cards, which is fortunate as it's time for our colour challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT06-16. April has picked some fabulous colours - BLUE, CREAM AND GOLD. Here's my card:

Stamps: My Favourite Things - Grand Holiday Greetings, Seasonal Sentiments; Waltzingmouse - Festive Foliage
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Whisper White (pigment), Night of Navy; Brilliance - Galaxy Gold
Dies: WMS - Holly; Memory Box - Postage Rectangle Layers #3
Accessories: Cream Lustre Card; SU Card - Night of Navy; SU DP - Night of Navy; Gold Mirri Card; White Signo Pen

I really wasn't sure what I was going to do with these colours, but I'm really pleased how this turned out. Over at Merry Monday - MM#191 the team would like to see the "Chalkboard Technique" and at Jingle Belles - JB:16:04 they want to see TEXT. So I thought text and chalk boards go together and my board is dark blue!! I cut a panel of design paper slight smaller than the base, ran a gold pen around the edge and adhered it flat to the card. Next I die cut a rectangle of navy card and stamped this bold greeting in white pigment ink and heat embossed with white powder. I doodled a border in white pen and then adhered the panel to some gold card and attached it to the front of the card. I finished the front with some gold die cut holly, complete with blue berries! On the inside I made a mat from navy card. On the white card I stamped a Christmas greeting and added some gold holly leaves.

Edited:  I've just added my card to the Merry Monday challenge and I think I must have been subconsciously CASing Betty!  Her card is absolutely fabulous

Don't forget to visit our blog to see what the rest of the team have created to inspire you. You've got plenty of time to play along - deadline is midnight (GMT) Friday 19th February (7.00pm for those of us in the States). I hope you all have a super weekend, I've a busy one planned with some fun stuff and some tax paperwork too! Well, it can't be all fun! See you soon.

Uniko - 4th Birthday, February Release, Blog Hop & Giveaway ...

....  Morning!  I'm very, very late with this post - I have a good excuse and will tell you as soon as I can!!  In the meantime, I'm here to help Bev celebrate Uniko's 4th Birthday.  I think I found her stamps about a month or two after she opened shop - and I love them still.  And it's such a pleasure to be a member of Bev's Design Team.  Bev is releasing four new stamp sets today and I've used three of them in my cards.

Here's the first card featuring Beautiful Blooms III - a multi-step set:

Stamps: Uniko - Beautiful Blooms III, I Love Tea, Simply Said
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Dies: Die-namics - Happy Hellos
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU DP - Calypso Coral; Gold Mirri Card; We Are Memory Keepers EF - Gemstone; Gold Pen

I cased Anita's lovely card from this week's MUSE - MUSE#152 challenge.  The colours are from Colour Q - cQc#328 and as there's a lovely flower on the card, I'm also playing along with Addicted to CAS - ATCAS#81 where the cue word is BLOOM.

I cut a panel of white card slightly smaller than the base and stamped the flower and leaves.  I used my MISTI which makes perfect positioning so easy.  Once stamped I embossed the panel and edged it with a gold pen.  I adhered the panel flat to the card.  I die cut the word from gold mirri card.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of coral design paper and on the white panel added the little flower stamp, from I love Tea, as it matches the main image.  I also added a little greeting from Simply Said - which is full of useful phrases.

My next card is really clean and simple, and very pretty too!

Stamps: Uniko - I Love Tea
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Secret Admirer; Washi Tape (can't remember who made this one); Copic Marker

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#233 for the layout and the colours are from Your Next Stamp - YNS#32 where I've used the colours.

I stamped the teacup on some pretty design paper and fussy cut it out.  I stamped the top of the cup again on some scrap white paper and coloured in some "tea", cut it out and adhered it to the teacup.  I found some pretty Washi tape in my stash and adhered two pieces to the card, attached the teacup and then used my MISTI to position and stamp the greeting.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of the same design paper.  On the white panel I stamped a greeting and the little flower stamp from this set - it's so pretty!

I didn't get chance to make a card with the final set - Some Bunny.  This is a really cute set with a lovely bunny and sentiments in fabulous fonts.  You will see the set soon.

Now, as is traditional, we have a release day Blog Hop with the DT and some Uniko Alumni.  Simply visit and comment along the Hop by midnight (GMT) Thursday 26th February, to be in with a chance of winning the ENTIRE release!!  If you have already purchase any or all of the release a refund will be given.

Bev

Deborah (that's me)

Jane

Lindsey

Nicki

Sarah G

Sarah P

Amy

Taheerah

Now, before I go, here are all the sets available today:

Beautiful Blooms III

I Love Tea

Simply Said

Some Bunny

Thank you for stopping by - do visit Bev's blog.  Bye for now

Rock Your Handwriting 2 ....

...  Afternoon!  I've had a fun morning trying to sort out various bits of paperwork and not making much headway!  So I took a break and spent some time catching up on the Rock Your Handwriting challenge.  I did do a few pages at the weekend.  Today's prompt is "Quote of the Day".  My favourite quote is "Live long and prosper" which Spock first says in "Amok Time".  Here's my page with this quote:

I had fun with this quote and decided to have a go at brush script and writing it in watercolour paints. I think I've got some improving to do!!  I found it really difficult to get the thick and thin strokes with the brush pen, but I found a few exercises on line and I'll have a go with them again soon.  The watercolour version was lots of fun to paint.  I got the idea from watching Kristina Werner's watercolour video.

Below are the catch-up pages for the challenge:

• Day 4 - Drill Favourite Word  - in my case, it was words
• Day 5 - Where I write
• Day 6 - My To Do List
• Day 7 - Snail Mail

I'm finishing this post with a video of Leonard Nimoy with clip of him saying "Live long and prosper":

CIC - Colours ...

.... Hello!  Welcome to the first challenge of February here at Cupcake Inspirations Challenge - CIC#346.  This week we have some fabulous colours for you to use - White, Berry and Silver.  I made a birthday card for my stash - I always need birthday cards!

Stamps: The Paper Shelter Digi - Whimsical Dragon; Happy Little Stampers - Fun Birthday Sentiments; Stampin' Up! - Endless Birthday Wishes
Inks: Versamark
Dies: Lil Inkers - Dual Stitched Rectangles #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU DP - Melon Mambo; Copic Markers; Wink of Stella - Clear; Sequins; Silver Embossing Powder

Don't you just love this fabulous little dragon?  I printed him twice on white card, cutting out one image with a stitched edge die and on the other I just cut out the dragon's body.  I coloured her with Copic makers and added lots of sparkle to her body and the little stars.  I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it with silver powder.  I finished the front with some little sequins.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of deep pink design paper and on the white panel added a little birthday cake.  I also took a close-up photo of the sparkle on the dragon - I just love the way Wink of Stella adds so much shimmer!!

There's lots more inspiration from the rest of the design team on our blog.

Our challenge this week is sponsored by The Paper Shelter (who kindly provided this super image). The winner will get $15 gift certificate to spend at The Paper Shelter.  That's all for now!  Have fun.

Uniko - Sneak Peak 2 ....

.... Hi again!  I'm back with a couple more sneak peeks from the upcoming Uniko release.

This is a mini-set full of lots of useful greetings and sentiments.  And, as you would expect from Bev's stamps, it will partner perfectly with all Bev's other sentiment and stamp sets.

I think you can guess what the image is!  I think it's adorable - a cute bunny for Easter, and for many other occasions too!

Here's the information about the upcoming release.  Not only is Bev releasing new stamps, she is also celebrating Uniko's 4th Birthday!!

• Sneak Peeks - Today (6th February).  A hint of what's to come.
• Introducing - 7th to 10th February.  Bev and the DT create projects with the soon to be released products.  As it's also Uniko's 4th Birthday, we are joined by some Uniko Alumni.
• Release Day - 11th February - today's the day!  You'll get to see all the products and be able to purchase them from the Uniko Shop.  In keeping with tradition, there will be Uniko DT & Alumni Blog Hop with a chance for a lucky person to win the ENTIRE release and more!

For more details about random winners and prizes, check out Bev's blog.  Places to join in and possibly win a prize are by commenting along the way on the Uniko blogs, DT blogs, Alumni blogs, liking the Uniko Facebook page, as well as following on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

At the moment, I'm very sad to say, I haven't yet received the stamps.  So, while the rest of the team will be introducing the new stamp sets from tomorrow, I'll have to sit out for now.  However, once they arrive, I'll be playing and sharing!  See you soon.

52CCT - Sketch ...

... Good morning!  So, January flew by and we're at the first Saturday in February.  It's time for our new challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT05-16 and our host this month is April. She has a lovely sketch for us to play with this week.  You don't have to use a Christmas tree as the focal image, and you can flip or turn the sketch, but we must still be able to see it in your finished card. Here's my take:

Stamps: Dylusions - One Two Tree; Uniko - Simply Said Christmas; Stampin' Up! - Warmth and Wonder
Inks: Distress - Lucky Clover, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio; Versafine - Onyx Black; Dylusions - Lemon Zest, Fresh Lime, Cut Grass
Accessories: Watercolour Paper; Vellum; Copic Markers; Signo White Pen; Sharpie Black Pen; Dylusion Stencils - Bubbles, Blocks, Christmas Trees

I decided to stick with a tree as the focal image and had fun playing with my Dylusions stamps and inks.  I was showing Kat how to use Dylusion inks last week and had some pieces of watercolour card ready with shades of green. I cut a panel to fit the front of the card and added some background detail with various stencils and inks.  I defined some of the images with a black Sharpie and white Signo.  I stamped the sentiment directly on the card and coloured in the open sentiment with a Copic marker.  I didn't want to hide the lovely background so I made the vertical strip with some snowflake embossed vellum.  I stamped the tree on a scrap of paper, cut it out and adhered it flat to the front of the card.  On the inside I cut another panel of watercolour card for the mat.  On the white panel I stamped a simple Christmas greeting and added some stencil details.

Do visit our blog to see the inspiration cards from the rest of the team - they're gorgeous.  You've got plenty of time to play along - submission deadline is midnight (GMT) Friday 12th February (7.00pm EDT for those of us in the States).  Have fun!  That's all for now.

Rock Your Handwriting ...

... Good afternoon - I completely lost track of time this morning - time moves so much faster as you get older!!! Hey ho. No card today, instead I'm going to share the pages I've done on the ROCK YOUR HANDWRITING challenge which is hosted by Jessica of Pretty Prints & Paper.

I actually came across this challenge when I saw some links on Facebook. The challenge is actually based on Instagram (which I don't use too often) but you can link to FB. It's a month long challenge with 29 prompts - one for each day - drills, word prompts and applications. The object is to take part in as many as you can and practice your handwriting. We use computers so much nowadays, that our handwriting skills tend to atrophy! At least mine does. The challenge started on 1st February and, as is often the way, I'm coming in a bit late.

I started by finding a notebook to use - I have so many in my stash. I'm using is a graph ruled composition notebook with a plastic cover. The pages in these notebooks are not the best quality and inks tend to bleed, so I started by taping two pages together with a piece of washi tape along the edge. It has the added advantage of making the page edges quite tough. Here's a photo of the page edges. I have lots of washi tape in my craft room and it was really nice to be able to use so much. I was amazed to find that I had so many co-ordinating colours.

I decided that the first page of the note book should be a list of the prompts for the month.  I used my set of 20 Staedtler Triplus Fineliners, along with the neon Triplus and Gel Triplus pens.  I have a passion for all things "stationery", but I think that's common with many crafters.  Here's the index page:

Today I tackled the first three prompts - "My Name", "Before", and "5 Facts About Me".  I concentrated on my first name - DEBORAH.  When I was a little girl I thought it was such a big name and I preferred to be called Debby, with a y. And, as it was a really popular name the year I was born, there were always lots of Deborahs in my class.  As I got older, I found I preferred to be called by my full name - and that's what I like today.  I had fun finding out the variations of my name and also discovered that it's really not popular anymore.  Only 71 girls were named Deborah in the UK in 2013 - sad really!!

The next prompt was "Before".  I was a tad confused by this prompt - before what? Well, I decided that I'd write a few lines in my handwriting and find some quotes containing the word before.

The last page that I completed today was lots of fun.  The prompt was "5 Facts About Me" - so many possibilities. You can read the ones I picked for today - they may well be different another day.  I used my Stabilo Pen 68 set for this page.

I'm not sure whether my handwriting is going to improve while I take part in this challenge, but it is going to be fun.  When I take it slowly, my writing's not too bad, but sadly I often rush and then my writing tends to end up a right mess!  That's all for now.  Take care.