It's Your Day to Shine...Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #247~Make Your Mark

Hello!

One hot day happening here; we do get those on occasion *grin*  I'm balancing outdoors for a bit with indoors for a bit...

In the event that you are indoors today, Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #247 has new inspiration  to pique your interest AND to make this extra special:

IT'S ATSM's 5TH BIRTHDAY!!!!

What's a birthday without a celebration, right? So, bring out those pens, pencils, markers, paints...what-have-you.. to 'make your mark' because one lucky winner will receive, from our generous sponsor:

a $40 gift certificate to shop at Happy Little Stampers!

I decided to 'make my mark' for this celebration with yet another bout of 'attempting' water-colouring. Concord & 9th's Shine Brightly set called my name, especially since, of late, I'm just a wee bit succulent smitten and cacti charmed....

My terrarium light-bulb is layered on the panel, as are my watercolours, so off  we go to Where Creativity Meets C9 Challenge #9~Layered

Please be sure to visit the team; a whole lot of mark-making happening over there with different mediums and technique! Afterwards, create some dazzle of your own and join us in the gallery.  Remember: there's a fabulous prize to be had!

Thank you for dropping by; your visit is both welcomed and deeply appreciated!

Bold, Blue Watercolour Wonders Thank You...Inkspirational Challenge #137~Photo Inkspiration

Hello,

Welcome to Inkspirational Challenge #137~Photo Inspiration, with a home decor image that is bold, blue and beautiful! That splash of bright florals...oh my! Talk about a conversation piece!

Joining us this week, from Chesterfield, UK, is our wonderfully talented Guest Designer,

Linda

Her take on this photo is marvelous, as are those of my sweet teammates:

Sandie

Shauna

Nonni

Kylie

Marina 
Yvonne

As for me...I went with pretty much a good old fashioned literal translation, using Altenew Watercolour Wonders, stamped atop light blue cardstock.

Okay, turning the stage over to you!  What ideas does the photo spark for you?

Looking forward to seeing your creativity in the Inkspirational gallery!

Also sharing at:

The Flower Challenge #9~Anything Goes

Creatalicious Challlenges #117~Anything Goes

 Thank you for dropping by; your visit is both welcomed and deeply appreciated!

Thinking of You...CASology Challenge #252~Insect

Hello,

No way was I going to miss this week's CASology Challenge #252~Insect,

especially when some stunning Concord & 9th butterflies are in the house....

Thank you for dropping by; your visit brings me joy!

NOTE:  Honoured and thrilled to receive an Honourable Mention at CASology! Thank you, Jacquie!

Happy Birthday with Kobi...Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #411~Watercolour

Hello,

Welcome to Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #411, where we're enticing you with this lovely assortment of 'water-colour' delights for this week's theme: Watercolour.

Source

This week's lucky water-colour-winner will receive a $15 gift certificate (+free shipping within the USA) from out sponsor Inspired by Stamping.

Bet you can guess my initial response to this challenge...yep! Fear, anxiety, dread...however, I overcame 'some' of that when my recent win from Studio Katia (who, by the way, is located in my home city of Edmonton!) arrived this week. So thrilled and honoured to receive such a wonderful prize package that included stamps AND dies! Please welcome the debut of the newest member of my collection:  Kobi, the Birthday Bear.  Isn't he A-DOR-A-BLE???

Kobi, his cake, assortment of gifts, the wee bee (ACK!) and balloon were water-coloured with a combination of Tombow markers and distress inks.  The background stenciling, in real life, is light green (Twisted Citron), but it shows rather 'brown' here. I know my water-colouring doesn't do him justice; I tried, though! I really did!  I have more Kobi's stamped and we're going to do some exploring with pencils to see how that goes. Stay tuned...Kobi will be back...again and again *grin*

THANK YOU, Katia, for the gift of Kobi! He will receive plenty of TLC!

Please head over to Cupcake Inspirations to see my team-mates' watercolour wonders...

you'll be dazzled!
 Amy
Birgit
Carol
Debbie
EK
Jen
Naki
Wendy

Afterwards, design a card/project to share in the gallery! 

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Have a marvelous Sunday!

Also sharing at:

Allsorts Challenge #419~Use at least two Dies

Happy Little Stampers June 2017 Watercolour Challenge~Anything Goes

Seize the Birthday~Anything Goes

Thank you for dropping by; your visit brings me joy!

Peacock Special Day....AAA Cards CAS Game #91~The 3rd Big Birthday Bash, TIME OUT Challenge #85~Home Sweet Home

Hello,

I'm popping in today to wish Happy, Happy Birthday to AAA Challenges! As I'm mentioned many times: this is an awesome place to play, as the inspiration is fabulous and the welcomes always warm! 

AAA Cards CAS Game #91~The 3rd Big Birthday Bash

Inspiration for my birthday card comes from this gorgeous tropical paradise home decor image at TIME OUT Challenge #85~Home Sweet Home

A fusion of the plant/leaves, the hummingbird and the blue/green/yellow pillow at the top translated into this....

Wishing AAA Cards many, many, many more years of marvelous challenges!  Thank you for investing time, energy and creativity to make this space so special for us! And the same to the TIME OUT crew!  Such an amazing community, isn't it?

Thank you so much for dropping by; your visit brings me joy!

Smitten with Cross-Stitched Succulents...Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge~Succulents

Hello,

Oh my gosh! I've just played with my new Waffle Flower Stitched Succulents and they are the cutest little cacti EVER!  Look at those sweet images...and they even have a choice of three smiley faces you can add! GAH!

I'm bringing one over to Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge~Succulents.

This one is the second one I made and I tried to capture most of the colours from the inspiration photo. His cross-stitches are 'slightly' more lined up than the first card I made (please, don't do a close-up to verify this...yikes!)...

as you can see here!  Aren't they darling? I want to pinch their prickly little cheeks!  The images are a bit fiddly, but I don't mind that at all. I learned a few trick watching a video and, with practice, hope to improve and speed up.

Speaking of cross-stitch...this was one of my obsessions from years back. I have a number of completed pieces - mainly Noah's Ark images, as I was all over collecting Noah's Ark things back in the day - but card-making has seen few projects set aside for a very long time!  Recently, after listening to one of Suzy Moore's podcasts (she of So Suzy Stamps - and her podcasts are wonderfully entertaining and enlightening) about how to rekindle creativity (truth be told, my card-making mojo is running close to empty....), I decided to pick up one of my unfinished projects.  I started this back when my nephew was born...and he's already five! Yikes! Anyway, I've been trying to do some stitching here, stitching there...

The project 'should' look like this when I'm done: Noah's Ark Cross Stitch. As you can see, I have a long way to go!

AND I have another project that I picked up a couple weeks back in a nearby stitching shop that I'm soooo stoked to start! Check this out.....

 Photo Source

See:  I have allllll the threads - including some glow-in-the-dark ones that I've never used before - as well as a new way to hold the Aida cloth: a Q-Snap.  Apparently it's an advancement over the plastic/wood hoops. Who knew?

Anyway...I'm loving my cross-stitched stamp images (another set in my NBUS pile, too) and loving my cross-stitching.  Hopefully, my creativity will be sparked...or at least, the birth sampler for my nephew and the Halloween banner completed *grin*

Just to be clear: I'm still totally passionate about card-making...just need to travel different directions once in a while.

Thank you so much for dropping by; your visit brings me joy!

Many Mandalas Happy Birthday....Happy Little Stampers June 2017 Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Hello!

Today, my teammates and I welcome you to Happy Little Stampers  June Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.

Our winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! 

Check out all the details HERE.

I finally got 'brave' enough to try out Concord & 9ths Many Mandalas set, first using the stamps only for a couple of cards (the line-up sheet included in the set is incredibly helpful!), then going hog-wild with the stamps and dies. This is one of a couple cards I made using these lovely, intricate images. Stamp, cut, stack...smile!  

This would be a quick card to make for those last-minute, oops-I-nearly-forgot occasions, as withthe dies, lining up the images isn't as 'particular'. I'm off to play with this set some more!!

Please be sure to visit my team-mates at HLS Anything Goes with Dies, then create a card/project (or three...) of your own and join us!

See you in the gallery!

Thank you so much for dropping by; your visit brings me joy!