STAMPlorations National Coffee Day Blog Hop & Giveaway...Coffee!

Hello

On this cold, wintry Sunday (seriously! Gahhh!), I'm joining STAMPlorations, one of the sponsors for the National Coffee Day Blog Hop! Wonderful Amy has brought together 29 Super Sponsors who are offering caffeinated inspiration and prizes to celebrate the beverage that keeps most of us fueled. All you need to do: relax with a cup of java and hop along, leaving comments along the way!

To create my card, I embossed the Zen Coffee 1 Cover Plate, then used the die as a stencil to ink the raised images. Coffee, in kraft, finished things off...

Sweet Shery is offering 2 prizes:

• one winner of a $15 gift code and 
• one winner her/his choice of any 3x5 or 4x4 coffee-themed stamp. 

• Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMPlorations blog and participating designers' blogs. 
• Commenting closes October 8; winners announced in the September winners' post on October 10.

Enjoy the hop!

Thank you for dropping by!

Uniko Studio National Coffee Day Blog Hop & Giveaway...Coffee & Friends Make the Perfect Blend

Hello,

On this cold, wintry Sunday (seriously! Gahhh!), I'm joining Uniko Studio, one of the sponsors for the National Coffee Day Blog Hop! Wonderful Amy has brought together 29 Super Sponsors who are offering caffeinated inspiration and prizes to celebrate the beverage that keeps most of us fueled. All you need to do: relax with a cup of java and hop along, leaving comments along the way!

An easy-to-create coffee card featuring Bev's I Love Coffee stamps. Such fun and, as you'll see from the designers, filled with possibilities!

Bev is offering a £25 Gift Code to one lucky commenter; you have until midnight GMT 6th October to comment on the Uniko blog as well as those of my teammates.

Enjoy the hop!

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #507~Photo Week...Sunflowers

Hello,

Can you believe we're at the final Saturday of September already! And, as per usual for this time of year here in Alberta, it's a snowy/rainy brrrrrr weekend! Lily and I are staying home, cozy and warm, while my husband officiates cyclo-cross races (they run, rain/snow/shine...'tis not a sport for the faint of heart *grin*). Maybe we'll bake cookies...okay, forget the 'maybe'. We will be making cookies!

On a more 'summery' note, welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #507, where our lovely Maria has selected a beautiful sunflowers scene to spark inspiration. Gorgeous!

This challenge is Janet Ribet's finale as our September guest designer; thank you so much for all your incredible inspiration this month! Please check out her wonderful card, along with those from the fabulous JUGS team: Sue, Angie, Vicki, Ina, Bobby, Nancy, Lisa and Maria. They would love to know you dropped by.

Brand-spanking new Sunny Studio stamps/dies in the house (they arrived Thursday evening, so I was scrambling for play time!) and oh my...swooning! I don't often use flowers on my cards, but these? Exception made! Love sunflowers; love these beautiful images! Of course, I had to make a second card...and have a few sunflowers left for another project. Oh...and the set includes the cutest little bees, too! You can see one buzzing about on my first card.

That's it from me!

Looking forward to see how the photo inspires you!

Thank you for dropping by!

Tag, You're IT Challenge #97~Fun with Flags...Penguin Birthday Tag

Hello,

Welcome to Tag, You're It Challenge #97, where lovely Kara invites us to draw inspiration from this fabulous flags/banner image...as well as the duck, spools of thread and assorted embellishments. Lots to pique ideas!

I brought a banner-holding MFT Sending Sweet Birthday Wishes penguin to play and used the spools as my palette. He's so cute! That face...I just what to squeeze his little cheeks!

After taking the photo, I added the tag to an embossed background panel. Why share this? As a reminder that for our challenge our focus is tags but a card, scrapbook layout and journaling card with a tag, even if it's teeny tiny, is acceptable. Even bookmarks and scraplings can take the form of a tag. Just have fun and be creative with TAGS! Sooooo...hopefully, this opens up possibilities and encourages you to play along with us! 

Looking forward to seeing your creativity in the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!

Uniko Studio Design Team Inspiration...Challenging with a Black/White/Green Palette, Butterflies and Designer Paper

Hello,

Welcome to my Uniko Studio DT showcase, where I bring out a few Uniko favourites for a play date.  

I'm sure we've all had the 'lost mojo' experience and seek various ways to end the start-something/give up cycle. When this happens to me, I 'challenge myself a challenge' - creativity re-boot, as it were - which is precisely what I've done with the trio of cards I'm sharing here.

My challenge: 

• focus on one key die/stamp combination: English Country Garden Butterfly Collection
• use a limited palette: black/white + green (inspired by the image at TIME OUT Challenge #144, which you can see here)
• use one 6 x 6 sheet of designer paper (sometimes we need to use that stash *grin*). I selected a various shades of green sheet from Pinkfresh Studio
• one occasion: Thanks (sparked by our upcoming Canadian Thanksgiving, but shifting from fall colours/images)
• three cards, inspired by at least two/three challenges (TIME OUT Challenge #144, Freshly Made Sketches #403, CAS(E) this Sketch #340). I've missed entering in a couple, but that's okay...it's the 'doing' that counts! 
• go CAS! 

So...here are my results:

Card 1: 

Small butterfly from English Country Garden Butterfly Collection

Sentiment from All Occasion Sentiments

Inspired by CAS(E) this Sketch #340);

 Card 2: 

Large butterfly from English Country Garden Butterfly Collection

Sentiment from Simply Said

Inspired by Freshly Made Sketches #403

Card 3:

Large butterfly die only from English Country Garden Butterfly Collection

Sentiment from Simply Said

Background from Tropical Paradise

Inspired by: me *grin*

I'd love to know how you re-boot your creativity!

Thank you for dropping by!

Inkspirational Challenge #196~Designer's Choice/Paper Piercing...Oh, Happy Day

Hello,

Welcome to Inkspirational Challenge #196, where our lovely Shauna has selected Paper Piercing as her Designer's choice.

I created a CAS card with Pinkfresh Studio Essential: Frames 2 die (lots of piercing here), Just a Little Lovely gold/acetate floral ephemera (swoon!) and a puffy sticker sentiment. No stamping on this little number! 

My wonderful teammates have designed gorgeous cards; please visit and leave them some love, which I know will be deeply appreciated:

Marina, Sandie, Shauna, Pia, Marlena, Anila, Nonni and Kylie.

Looking forward to visiting you in the gallery! 

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #506~Colour Week...Knights, Princesses and Dragons

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #506~Colour Week, where our lovely Lisa inspires us to use shades of grey, mint green and white.  Definitely a new combination for me...and I love it!

We're thrilled to have Janet Ribet joining us as our September guest designer; please check out her wonderful card, along with those from the fabulous JUGS team: Sue, Angie, Vicki, Ina, Bobby, Nancy, Lisa and Maria. They would love to know you dropped by.
I treated myself to Hero Arts August 2019 kit that has the most wonderful assortment of "royal" images. Reminded me of The Princess Bride, one of my all-time favourite movies!

So...my card features a sampling of several of the images...and I did my best to stick to the palette with my copic marker choices.

First, my slimline panel (second one in a week...I may be addicted!). Hopefully, my attempt at a 'happily ever after' story is evident...

Second, a CAS card...love the castle die!

I know you'll come up with beautiful grey, mint green and white on your cards/projects. 

Excited to see your creativity in the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!

Uniko Studio Challenge #55~Anything Goes/Optional Twist: Autumn...Have a Beautiful Day

Hello,

Hard to believe that we're past the mid-way point of September already! Days cooler; nights longer; leaves prettier...speaking of which...

 Welcome to Uniko Studio September/October Challenge #55~Anything Goes, with Autumn as an optional twist. Such a lovely inspiration photo...

Joining us as Guest Designer is Myra who is only 8 years old! EIGHT! You'll be dazzled by her card; creativity galore!  I don't think I did any crafting when I was 8...or 18...maybe 28...but let's not talk about ages, okay *grin*

For the first time, I decided to try a current trend in card design: the 'slimline'. I may be hooked!

I blended my 8.5 X 3.5 panel with Squeezed Lemonade, Wild Honey, Barn Door and Gathered Twigs. I used the same colours to stencil my leaves - Natures Treasures II. To add dimension, I used a trio of hexagons and recessed them on the panel. A sentiment from Beautiful and...done!

That's it from me...time for you to create a card/project for the gallery. 
  

THE PRIZES

• Main Winner Chosen By the DT - £25 eGift Certificate
• Random Twist Winner - £5 In Stock Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing
• Random Uniko Stamps Winner - £5 In Stock Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing
• Top 3 Chosen By DT - 150 Loyalty Reward Points

Please join us before midnight (GMT) on Friday, October 25th, 2019.

Thank you for dropping by!

Perfectly CAS September 2019 Challenge~Flowers

Hello,

I'm absolutely thrilled to be joining the incredibly talented 'super' Kylie, along with a group of wonderfully creative designers, for the debut of a new monthly challenge: Perfectly CAS!

What is Perfectly CAS? For this challenge, we're asking you to use one-third (aka: the rule of thirds) or less on your card designs, leaving plenty of scrumptious white space (two-thirds of your panel) to draw our eyes to to your focal image. Kylie has included an easy-to-follow explanation on the challenge blog here.

Flowers are the theme for our first challenge...

I created a little floral arrangement (hmmm...wasn't intentional, but it 'kind of' looks like the flowers in the image above...) using Petite Posies from The Stamp Market. Easy to ink (layered); easy to die-cut; easy to use in 'small space' designs. Plus, they're cute! As in really cute!

Turning the stage over to you! 

Looking forward to seeing your Perfectly CAS flower-themed cards in the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #505~Trend Week...More Paper Smooches Sunnyville and You Rock!

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #505~Trend Week, where our lovely Angie has selected Stacking Die-Cuts as our inspiration. So many fun ways to interpret this...

We're thrilled to have Janet Ribet joining us as our September guest designer; please check out her wonderful card, along with those from the fabulous JUGS team: Sue, Angie, Vicki, Ina, Bobby, Nancy, Lisa and Maria. They would love to know you dropped by.
I'm continuing my 'crushing on and smitten with' fest with Paper Smooches Sunnyville stamps/dies.  Today, four cards, each with 'stacked' die cuts in some fashion...

My first card is a 99.9% case of Jill Hawkin's card found here. LOVE her version: the sun stacked on top of the clouds, stacked on top of the 'rainbow'!  Once I started with that one, I just kept going....

In Card 2, I stacked You Rock in rainbow colours...

For Card 3, the sweet bespectacled sun is stacked atop glitter clouds...

and finally, in Card 4, the adorable sun + clouds + rainbow rays are stacked...

I'm sure you'll come up with ingenious ways to stack your die cuts! Excited to see your creativity in the gallery!

Also sharing at:

Card #3 - Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #478~Blue + Yellow NOTE: Honoured that Ishani selected my card for a Sweet Select Badge! THANK YOU!!!!

Card #4 - Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #402 (used the sketch flipped around)

Thank you for dropping by!

You Are My Sunshine...AAA Cards CAS Game #148~Sketch, TIME OUT Challenge #143~Inspired by Words, Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #357~Make Your Mark

Hello,

Took an opportunity to do some 'just for fun' card-making for the following challenge:

AAA Cards CAS Game #148

TIME OUT Challenge #143~Inspired by Words

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #357~Make Your Mark

I'm having a crush-fest with Paper Smooches Sunnyville stamps and dies; so much cuteness! Paired the adorable sun/cloud with a strip of stenciled rainbow clouds. Another note for my SIL to share with the kiddos...

More cards with these sets coming soon...told you I'm smitten with them!

Thank you for dropping by!

Happy Little Stampers September 2019 Anything Goes with Dies Challenge...Lily's Cards

Hello,

Welcome to Happy Little Stampers September 2019 Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.

This month, my sweet Lily inspired my cards *grin* She needs to give/send a LOT of cards, especially to the wonderful staff at the vet clinic. Lily was diagnosed with irritable bowel disease (finally an answer to two months of her being on-again/off-again not so well), so we've been in close contact with the fabulous vets, techs and reception personnel on a regular basis. Now that we know what she has, we're in the process of helping her heal; that means home-cooked meals! I'm thrilled to do the cooking for her and hopefully, with a very slow introduction of some essential ingredients, we'll see improvements (fingers crossed, touch on wood...the works). Actually, she is incredibly full of energy, spunk and sparkle...maybe I should eat what she does (currently ground beef and oatmeal)!

This one went to my nephew...

this one, to my niece. 

Please visit my teammates; their creations are wonderful and, if you have a moment, leave them some love. I know they'll be thrilled!

Looking forward to seeing your Anything Goes with Dies cards/projects in the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!