Inkspirational Challenge #293 - Word Prompt - Christmas in July - Gingerbread Bakery

Hello,

First: HAPPY CANADA DAY to all my Canadian friends!

Welcome to Inkspirational Challenge #293, where our Word (okay, Words) Prompt for the next two weeks is CHRISTMAS IN JULY. We're just over 1/2 way to Christmas (why is time flying so quickly) and craft companies are already launching their Christmas releases so...we've decided to join the festive festivities! 

You can interpret the theme in any fashion you want - a 'summer' Christmas, regular Christmas or whatever falls in between. As long as Christmas is your focus, we'd love to see you in the gallery.

Last November, I watched Nicole Spohr create Gingerbread Bakery Gift Tags and decided that I *needed* to have some of my own.  It took me a while to gather the products but...mission accomplished.  Below is my case - or rather, copy - of one of her tags. I'm so pleased with how this turned out - and yes, I did make the second version that she also shared. You can see her creativity here.

Looking forward to seeing how Christmas in July inspires you!

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #686 - Color Week - Only Pastels - Happy Birthday Bear, Bunny and Balloons (MFT - Sweet Celebrations)

HAPPY CANADA DAY to all my Canadian friends! Hope you're enjoying celebrations! 

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #686, where our wonderful hostess, Elizabeth, invites us to use PASTELS as inspiration this week. 

We're also delighted to have a new Guest Designer, Kristin Shulan, joining us this month. You'll find her creativity dazzling!

My MFT bear, bunny and balloons have finally, after nearly 1.5 years of owning them, made their debut. I really should have given this set a play much earlier; it's adorable! As much as I'm not a fan of watercolouring, I did so...this time. Little spaces, so it worked out okay-ish. The background is a rubber stamped sky...so easy! 

(Apologies for the odd 'ivory' hue on my photos...I don't know what's going on!)

Looking forward to seeing how Pastels inspire you!

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #685 - CAS Week - Thinking of You - Paper Hugs Think of You, Friend (The Stamp Market)

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #685 where our hostess, Elizabeth, invites us to create CAS cards with a Thinking of You theme. 

A special thank you to our June guest designer, TK, from Time 4 Kards, for sharing her inspiring cards with us this past month. 

My Paper Hugs collection from The Stamp Market - one of my all-time favourites -  needed some attention - and what better challenge to play in. Paper Hug is die cut with Vicki Boutin patterned paper; the sheet is actually rainbow-ish, but since the die didn't cover the full spectrum of the swirly pattern, I went with the first three ROY colours.

Looking forward to seeing your CLEAN and SIMPLE Thinking of You cards.

Thank you for dropping by!

Inkspirational Challenge #292 - Designer's Choice - Emboss Your Background - You're Pretty Awesome (Altenew Butterflies in Clouds)

Hello,

Welcome to Inkspirational Challenge #292 where our Designer's Choice challenge, selected by our wonderful Julia, is "Emboss Your Background."  Embossing folder, heat embossing, stencil embossing (and probably a few more techniques I've not thought of)...as long as you feature embossing on your background, you're good to go. 

After many years of owning Altenew's Painted Butterflies stamps, I finally had the opportunity to add the dies. Ohmyword! What a difference they make when it comes to both stamping and placement. I'm in love with this collection all over again. My three butterflies are flitting and fluttering through a background of embossed clouds. Seriously, those butterflies...swoon. Sentiment is one of the reverse simple strips from Taylored Expressions.

Looking forward to seeing what style of embossed background you'll bring to the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #684 - Photo/Moodboard - Thank You Houses (Funky Fossil Designs)

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #684, where our sweet Vicki has selected a beach hut photo as inspiration this week. Huts/houses, colours, patterns, beach...what will inspire you?

Once again, we're delighted to have our Guest Designer - TK - joining us.

Back in early January, I placed a rather 'big' order from Funky Fossil Designs, which included a set of the most adorable house dies EVER! Today - only 5 months later - three of the seven houses are finally making a debut. My gosh, but they are sooooo cute! Lawn Fawn papers, MFT clouds, Pigment Craft 'dots' and a Honey Bee sentiment makes this a pop art style card wrap.

Looking forward to seeing how the photo inspires you!

Thank you for dropping by!

Color Hues Challenge #66 - Yellow and Green...Have a Fabulous Day Stitched Petal Frame (Spellbinders)

Hello,

Welcome to Colour Hues Challenge #66, where Karen invites us to draw inspiration from hues of Yellow and Green for the next two weeks. Such a pretty combination!

We're thrilled to have super talented, Michele, from icardeveryone fame, joining us for this challenge. Her creativity is absolutely dazzling!

I've been quite enjoying stitching on paper, of late, thanks largely to wonderful showcases I've seen and my rather abundant supply of DMC floss. The long stitch style is both relaxing and easy to do. The hardest part, for me, is poking out the paper bits from the holes; I need to come up with a better strategy (or maybe use less thick paper or flatter cutting plates). Whatever the case, the results - in my opinion -  make the effort worthwhile.  Featured here is Spellbinders Stitched Petal Frame die, paired with a sentiment from Honey Bee Stamps.  

How will Yellow and Green inspire you? 

This challenge will be open until June 28th @ 9:00 AM EST

The winners will be posted an hour before our next challenge goes live.

The overall winner will have the opportunity to be a 

future Guest Designer.

Also sharing at:

Double D Challenges - Lemon-Ade Yellow Challenge

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #683 - WORD - Hello...Hello, Just Bee-cause (Concord and 9th)

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge # 683, where Ina, our wonderful hostess, has selected HELLO as this week's word inspiration.

Once again, we're delighted to have TK joining us as our June Guest Designer.

More Concord & 9th from me; this time using the Sweet As Can Bee collection, paired with a bold hello from Markered. Love when sets play nicely together.

Looking forward to how you say *Hello* with your marvelous creations.

Thank you for dropping by!

HLS Anything Goes with Dies Challenge June 2023 - Have A Fabulous Day (Pigment Craft Co. and Pinkfresh Studio)

Hello,

Welcome to the June 2023 Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.

For this card, I used the 'negative' piece from the birthday card I share here (Pigment Craft Co. Postage Grid cover plate), then simply added some stickers from Pinkfresh Studio. Let's just say this version was wayyyyyy easier than the previous! LOL! 

Looking forward to seeing your die-namic cards/projects in the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!

HLS Stencil Challenge June 2023 - Big Hugs (Concord and 9th)

Hello,

Welcome to the June 2023 Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge, where Anything Goes is always the theme.

After being introduced to Concord & 9th's big words stencils (Oh, Hey, specifically), through last year's Crop & Create fall event, I added a second to my collection: Big Hugs. The hearts, the banner sentiment and, of course, the stencil + dies, make sending hugs easy and fun. 

Looking forward to seeing your stencil sensations in the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!

HLS Christmas Challenge June 2023 - Anything Goes (optional: Make a Scene)...Happy Holidays Snowmen and Critters (Colorado Craft. Co.)

Hello,

Welcome to Happy Little Stampers June 2023 Christmas Challenge. Anything Goes is always a choice, as is the optional twist which, this month, is "Make a Scene."

Not sure if my Colorado Craft Co. + Anita Jeram critters are making a 'scene', but they sure are making cute snowpeople! 

Looking forward to your Christmas inspiration in the gallery!

Thank you for dropping by!

Inkspirational Challenge #291 - SEASONAL...Happy Halloween x 2 (TE Create-in-Quads Halloween)

Hello,

Welcome to Inkspirational Challenge #291 where we're introducing a new challenge to our line-up: SEASONAL. We invite you to consider the four seasons - Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter - and create cards/projects based on occasions that are quite 'specific' to those seasons. For instance:  Spring = Mother's Day, Easter, gardening, etc.; Summer = summer vacations, flowers blooming, school's out, weddings, beaches; Fall = harvest, Thanksgiving, Halloween; Winter = Christmas, Hanukkah, winter activities. These are just a few ideas to get you started; the team also has some fabulous inspiration for you. 

I've gone with a Fall/Halloween theme for my DT cards; need to give my Taylored Expressions Halloween Create-in-Quads stencils some action. Given how quickly time seems to be flying, Halloween will be here before we know it! Everything - except for the sentiments - is stenciled. So fun!

Looking forward to your SEASONAL sensations filling the gallery.

Thank you for dropping by!

Just Us Girls Challenge #682 - COLOR Week - Blue, Purple, Light Gray - Coffee with Friends (TE Perk Up)

Hello,

Welcome to Just Us Girls Challenge #682, where Vicki has selected Blue, Purple and Light Grey as inspiration this week.

New month means a new guest designer. We're delighted to have TK joining us.

Yep...Taylored Expressions Perk Up coffee mugs...again. I love this collection - and that sentiment is so very true! You'll likely see more from this set...just sayin'. 

Looking forward to seeing how this colour combination will inspire you.

Thank you for dropping by!

HLS June 2023 Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes - Birthday Images Card (Pigment Craft Co.)

Hello,

Welcome to Happy Little Stampers June 2023 (how did we get here so fast!) Birthday Challenge, where the theme is always Anything Goes.

I had a play - finally - with my Pigment Craft Co. Postage Grid Cover Plate die and Sweets stamp set. I didn't use the outer frame for this one; just the little 'stamps', each one decorated with a birthday image, then added to the base with different amounts of foam tape for dimension. You'll see, in another post, what I did with the frame. 

Looking forward to your birthday celebration cards/projects in the gallery.

Also sharing at:

Seize the Birthday Challenge #262 - Make It Pop. I've used funky-fun images, bright colours and loads of dimension (difficult to photograph) on those bitty stamps.

Thank you for dropping by!

Color Hues Challenge #65 - Red and Aqua...Markered Hello (Concord and 9th)

Hello,

 And suddenly, we're in June! How did that happen? New month = new Colour Hues Challenge #65. For the next two weeks, Julie P invites us to be creative with hues of Red and Aqua. A lovely combination, as you'll see from all the inspiration. 

We're delighted to have Ineke joining us for this challenge.

Concord & 9th's Markered set came out for a play. Another turnabout that looks fabulous in any colour. Now that I finally have the updated jig, turnabouting is going to be even MORE fun! 

Looking forward to seeing how Red and Aqua inspire you!

This challenge will be open until June 14th @ 9AM!

The winners will be posted an hour before our next challenge goes live.

The overall winner will have the opportunity to be a 

future Guest Designer!

Thank you for dropping by!