Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Just Us Girls Challenge #716 - CASE a DT Week - Cheerful Panda Love (Alex Syberia Cheerful Pandas, Concord & 9th Love, SL Hearts)

Hello,

Happy Leap Day 2024 and welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #716, where we invite you to CASE a Design Team Member. The 'rules' are simple:
  • select one of our Design Team cards and 
  • make it your own based on whatever sparked your creativity: the colors, elements, theme, style, etc. 
In your description, tell us whose card you chose, what inspired you and how you translated that inspiration into your version. We're excited to see who and what caught your eye! 

Behind the scenes this month, I set a personal challenge: to focus on creating love-themed cards that showcased at least two of the following: hearts, the word 'love', pinks and/reds. I wound up with close to 28 cards (some duplicates) which I'll bundle for my niece and nephew for those days when they need a little paper love from Aunty c. I'm hoping to see them in March, so that will be 'one' of their birthday gifts (hard to believe my niece will be 14 on the 3rd and my nephew 12 on the 12th). 

This card features the cutie-patootie pandas from Alex Syberia Designs' Cheerful Pandas, a love die from Concord & 9th and stenciled hearts from Studio Light. Those pandas...seriously LOVE! 


Lots to CASE if you choose my card (honoured if you do): pandas, colours, stenciling, flowers, cute critter images, black + white + pink + red...

Enjoy CASEing! 

Thank you for dropping by!


Friday, February 23, 2024

Inkspirational Challenge #310 - Mood Board - Just A Note Painted Peony (Concord and 9th, Pigment Craft Co. cover plate, MCT sentiment)

Hello,

Welcome to Inkspirational Challenge #310, where we have a pastel, minty-pinky, flowers, cake, macarons, cupcakes and cake pops Mood Board as inspiration for the next two weeks. You can see a larger photo over at the challenge blog. Remember: the mood board offers a plethora of launching points for your card/project: images, colours, textures, design and much more. Let us know what caught your eye; I'm sure we'll be dazzled! 

Adapted from:
https://bespokeandbeautiful.blogspot.com/2014/10/mood-board-monday-pink-mint-gold.html

Obviously, the bouquet caught my eye, offering opportunity to play with (finally!) my Concord & 9th Painted Peony stamp and die set. Soooo easy to line up - and I quite like that it doesn't have - or, for that matter, need - outline stamps. A combination of Concord and 9th and Altewnew Inks (very old versions!) provided colour; the diamond cover plate from Pigment Craft Co and a sentiment from MCT finishes it off. Of course, I stamped a few more peonies in different colours; they'll make an appearance down the road. 


Looking forward to seeing your takes on the Mood Board!

Thank you for dropping by!


Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Just Us Girls Challenge #715 - Anything Goes Stencil Week - Friend Plants and Pots (Concord and 9th from Crop and Create 2023)

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #715- Stencil Week, with our wonderful hostess, Bobby.  Yayyyy for stencils! 

A huge thank you to our fabulous February Guest Designer: Denise Morgans. We've all enjoyed her wonderful inspiration this month.

My card features Concord & 9th inks, stencils and dies from last fall's Crop & Create 2023. So far, this is only my first 'assignment' using this collection (nothing like being on time!). Two more classes to go - and then I'll be caught up. HA! NOT! Still plenty of classes to go. A dies only version using these products is on my very long want-to-do list. 


What stenciled sensations will you share?
See you in the gallery.

Thank you for dropping by!


Friday, February 16, 2024

Color Hues Challenge #81 - Lilac & Mint - Celebrate (Alex Syberia Candles and Pandas)

Hello, 

Welcome to Colour Hues Challenge #81, where our lovely hostess, Stef, invites us to play with hues of Lilac and Mint for the next two weeks. Such a pretty combination, right!

We're delighted to have Bonnie joining us as our Guest Designer.

My Alex Syberia candles and pandas are making their debut with this challenge. The candles are whimsically fun; the pandas, absolutely adorable! First time use, so I went with a slimline; haven't made one of those in a while. My inks are assorted companies' shades of mint and lilac; the balloons and hats, colour with Copics that, according to my 'research' are supposed to be mint and lilac. I was a bit heavy handed with the darker colours of the trios but...they're still hues of the combination (or so I hope!).


How will Lilac and Mint inspire you?

The challenge will remain open until February 28th at 9 am!

The winners will be posted an hour before our next challenge and the overall winner will have the opportunity to be a future Guest Designer!

Thank you for dropping by!


Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Just Us Girls Challenge #714 - Mood Board - Mermaid Kisses (MCT)

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #714, where our wonderful hostess, Ina, has chosen a selection of fabulous images for this week's Mood Board inspiration. If you're a fan of all things purple/teal, blended, textured or ocean-themed, this one's definitely for you. Lots of possibilities beyond "just" seashells...


We are, once again, delighted to have Denise Morgans joining us as our February Guest Designer.

Living on the prairies and not being much of a beach-destination traveler, my ocean experiences are few and far between. Add to that my fear of vast expanses of water (no cruises for me. Nope!) and the net result is a sparse collection of things sea-themed. I do, however, have a lovely mermaid set so I dressed her, the waves, the bubbles, the seaweed and starfish on gold matte cardstock and let them play on this pretty panel of Craft Consortium paper. Purples + blues + 'waves' + a mermaid; I think I did okay in connecting with the mood board. Hope you think so, too.


Looking forward to seeing Mood Board makes in the gallery! 

Thank you for dropping by!


Friday, February 9, 2024

Inkspirational Challenge #309 - Word Prompt - Hearts - Big Hugs Hearts (Concord and 9th - Sweet Sentiments Dies)

Hello,

Welcome to Inkspirational Challenge #309. With Valentine's/Galentine's Day quickly approaching, we thought it fitting to have HEARTS as our Word Prompt for the next two weeks. 


I have oodles of hearts on my card (I made two: one each for my niece and nephew). Featured dies are Concord and 9th's Sweet Sayings; inspiration is from Nichol Spohr. I'm definitely sweet on this collection; it's timeless and versatile for all those occasions where love and hugs are needed. 


As a side note: one of my other challenge teams has LOVE as its theme this week, so if you're sharing a hearts/love card at Inkspirational, please share, as well, over at Just Us Girls Challenge #713.

Excited to see how YOUR hearts capture ours!

Thank you for dropping by!


Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Just Us Girls Challenge #713 - Word Week - LOVE - Things I Love About You... (CZ Design Noted Heart)

Hello

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #713.  With Valentine's/Galentine's Day coming up soon, our wonderful hostess, Elizabeth, has chosen LOVE as this week's word inspiration. Love covers a multitude of occasions; please ensure that the word features in your design.

We're delighted to have Denise Morgans joining us as our February Guest Designer.

I'm smitten with the CZ Design's Noted Heart, part of the Simon Says Stamps Smitten release. I made a few cards with this set and actually did something I rarely do: heat embossed. Not something I like doing, but in this case, I'm pleases with the results (despite several mess-ups along the way). The highlight of this stamp, for me, is the variety of sentiments that can be placed on the heart. A few were tricky to get straight but hey, home-made with LOVE beats perfection any time, right? 

This one is for my sweet niece


and this, for my fabulous nephew.


Looking forward to a whole lot of LOVE in the gallery!

Also sharing at:




Thank you for dropping by!


Thursday, February 1, 2024

Color Hues Challenge #80 - Red & Pink - February 14 Happy Valentine's Day (Hero Arts Numbers, MCT sentiment)

Hello,

February 1st (already!) means time to launch Colour Hues Challenge #80, where our lovely hostess, Sheri has selected hues of Red and Pink, traditional Valentine/Love colours as inspiration for the next two weeks.

A new month also brings a new, fresh look to Colour Hues, with updated stylish blog header, challenge badges and watermarks. Thank you to Nancy's son, Ty, for prettying things up!

We're delighted to have Bobby as our Guest Designer for this challenge. Welcome!


I die cut and pieced together several strips of red and pink to create my Valentine card. My new-to-my-stash numbers are from Hero Arts (so fun, those!), February die cut from Elizabeth Crafts, the background hearts (cut and glued in place...I really need a hearts embossing folder!) from Concord & 9th and the stamped sentiment from MCT.  Love when products from various companies play nicely.


Looking forward to seeing how you're inspired by Red and Pink!

Thank you for dropping by!