Hug in a Mug Thanks at Die Cut Divas.

hi there.  Last day of March and what a month it's been.   The world is in turmoil due to Covid 19 and we in New Zealand are in lockdown/isolation.  I'm coping well as I'm still working full time from my kitchen table... and get some crafting down in my down time and weekends...

So onto our last day for this month's Die Cut Divas' challenge for March.  We have been overwhelmed with the support - thanks everyone who entered...so much goodness.

My card today is a Thank You card - thanks to Chic Chickadee Crafts for sponsoring us and providing the team with some Sugartree Stamps digis to use.

I used Sugartree Stamps "Hug in a Mug"

I googled free Coffee backgrounds and found this one which I printed out and used a Lil' Inker die to cut.  I then popped it back in the printer to add the sentiment.  I printed the coffee cup onto kraft and white card stock.  I fussy cut out each to the bits and used Alcohol Marker to colour the band.  Every thing was then pieced back together and added with some 3D tape. 

You still have some time to enter... our challenge finishes at 9.00pm Pacific US time. 

Altenew Swap..

Back in February I took part in a Swap over at the Altenew Fan Group on Fac
ebook.  I had three cards to swap.   I have heard that two of my recipients have received their cards and I've received two back.  Any way I'm sharing here today, the cards I made.

First off was this one

I used Watercolor Half tone Stamp set and some blue and purple inks for this one.

Next one up...

This one is uses Simple Beauty stamp set.  I love the colours I've used on this one.

and finally this one

For this one I used Classic Beauty rose and the Mod Vases together.  Really pleased with the colour scheme for the rose.

My cards went to Drifa in Iceland, Teri in the USA and Barbara in Australia.

I had fun making these.  Altenew stamps and dies are really the best - I love using them to make my cards.

Make a Background at Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

Well my friends... this post is coming to you LATE!  Yes I completely lost the plot and forgot to post... well even make a card for this challenge... Bad Designer team member!!! I thought I still had a week to go...saw the post from Sweet Stampin' Challenge pop up on my blogger feed and thought Oh C**p!  So there I was at 10.pm last night riffling through my stash for a background I had made and could make up into a card ASAP!

Here's what the result was

 My background was made last year when I was doing a Gelli plate class - I used Altenew inks to make a print by stamping on the plate with the leave stamp and then stamping off with the leaves onto another sheet of paper.  That is what this is - the off stamping.  I trimmed up the panel and used some Magenta Altenew ink to add a glow around the edge using a blending brush.  I stamped a sentiment from my new Clearly Besotted Say Something set which I matted with some dark pink card.  Added a few dusky pink sequins and hey presto and card done in 10 mins.

So do come and join us at Sweet Stampin' Challenge with a project where you make your own background.

Keep Calm and Be Kind

What a place the world is now... How would have ever imagined this could happen. 

Yesterday my package from Krafters Cart arrived - I needed some new Momento Tuxedo black ink so popped in a stamp set too... by Clearly Besotted called Say Something  I manged to get the last one in stock.  When I opened the stamp set, the sentiment Keep Calm and Be Kind, jumped off the sheet at me!  I didn't even notice it was in the set when I was ordering,  I just loved the font and wanted some different sentiments.... how fortuitous it was - perfect for the times....

I've done two cards....
First one I did paired the sentiment with an Altenew flower and some of their new washi tape

 I did this one last night - using Simple Beauty in Pink Pearl, Coral Bliss for the larger flower and Coral Bliss, Heart Beat for the smaller one.  I added the sentiment and washi plus a few clear gems and added to a pink base.  I'm going to walk up the road and drop it in my elderly neighbour's letter box to give her some positive encouragement.

This afternoon, I watched a live FB class from a NZ based company called Caftables.  Paula, the owner, had made kits which were sent out earlier in the week.  I didn't get the kit but loved her design elements so did some improvising. 

I used a die to make my oval centre and then embossed the panel.  Paula used the most incredible Poppy flowers which were die cut and then layered up to give a 3D effect, but I went with something a bit simpler.  I used a Hero Arts flower that was sitting on my desk (Night and Day Flower)  I stamped the black outline and then used Altenew Alcohol markers in Crimson and Velvet to add colour to the flowers.  A couple of green Spectrum Noir markers were used for the leaves and branches.   I white embossed the sentiment on to the same red card I used to mat the centre panel. 

So how is everyone going at self isolating/quarantining/being in lock down.... First week of working from home for me has gone okay.  I managed to do my hours each day and not get too stressed out.  Our team had a MS Teams meeting every morning to talk about what the work was like, how we were coping and generally chatting to each other.   During the day we would chat on Teams, use our teams Whats App and sent each other photos of our pets, our lunches, or families... anything to stay in touch really.   All that working didn't give me much time to craft though (insert sad face) so I'll be making up for it this weekend.  

WWC 264 Helen's Challenge: All About Occasions

 Hello there, it’s time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Helen  is our hostess this week with an All About Occasions challenge.

Today I am sharing a card I made using my Scan'N'Cut and We Are Memory Keepers Quill pen with a USB by Kelly Creates.

 

I took the floral heart design and incorporated the happy birthday.  I used gold foil with the black card stock.  Once I had finished foiling I took my Prismacolor pencils to colour the flower and leaves.   I added some bronze Nuvo drops to the panel before adding to the white base.

Come and join the fun.  Check out the projects that the other artists at Watercooler Wednesday

Challenge have created.  Then take our challenge and link your creation to the challenge post.  We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday at 5 pm Mountain Standard Time (Tuesday at 12.00 noon NZ time ) to link up your project.

Anything Goes at Die Cut Divas

This month at Die Cut Divas it's an Anything Goes challenge.  and our sponsor is Chic Chickadee Crafts. 

I am using a digital stamp set from Sugartree Stamps available at Chic Chickadee Crafts.  It's called Party Animal.

I printed out the panel with several images and sentiments together.  I used a scalloped die to cut it out.  I used a variety of Watercolour markers to colour it in.  I added some Sparkle pen to the icing and some glossy accents on the candle flames.

Still time to join us at Die Cut Divas this month.

Well New Zealand goes into Lock Down at 11.59pm tonight.... we got warning on Monday afternoon to advise we had moved from Alert Level 2 to Alert Level 3 - people were to start working from home if they could...and to prepare for full Lock Down Alert Level 4 on Wednesday night... so for the next 4 weeks I'm at home alone....  You might wonder why I'm alone... well my husband and I separated last month... I'm still living in the house so lock down means me by myself.  I am keeping busy working 7 1/2 hours a day - and no doubt my weekends will be crafting all weekend.  I have lots of cotton fabric and beeswax so some wax wraps will be made, got some knitting I need to finish and I'll get a head on all my design work and even have some simple play time.  

This virus is changing the world.... so be kind to each other and look out for one another.   WE WILL BEAT THIS!

CAS Christmas - Winter Flower

Back with my second post for the day!  I was blog surfing and saw a sweet card by Linda W that she did for  CAS Christmas challenge so thought I had better get a start on the Christmas cards for 2020.

Although Christmas is summer here in New Zealand we still seem to have plenty of Poinsettia flowers around.   I think it is a winter flower over the side of the world - so that's my inspiration for this card

It turned out a bit more orange than I had anticipated. but happy with it any hoo.  I used a Hero Arts stamp called "Antique Poinsettia" from 2016.  Still a favourite. I used watercolour markers scribbled onto a block and painted with a Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen.  The sentiment is a wood mounted stamp from 2005 called "Favorite Things Calligraphy" by a company called Paper Inspirations.  I can't find this one online so presume it's not longer in existence.

I am also entering this into The Flower Challenge - Anything Goes challenge #42

I popped out to the shops earlier to get a special cable so I could connect my tablet to a bigger screen for working from home.  I had a 33" TV upstairs that wasn't being used so I lugged it downstairs and set it up on my dinning table.

I got it set up so the two screens can be used separately - still need to type on the tablet - will maybe look at a cheap keyboard if I need to. 

Hero Arts FB Scramble - March 2020

Hi there - I decided to take part in Hero Arts Facebook 90 minute scramble for March - take any 90 mins period between 16th and 23rd to make your card.  I set my timer as I knew that I would have to take a break as our Prime Minister was doing an Address to the Nation speech at mid-day.  Once that was finished, I was able to come back and reset the timer.  Cindy set the theme as: Friendship or Get Well card.

 So here is the card I made.

I used a lovely background stamp called True Friends and stamped it in Altenew Silver Lake ink,  I stamped the main flower from Night and Day Flowers in Obsidian and Deep Iris Altenew inks  I took a darker purple marker to add the texture in the centre of the petals and then a yellow to add to the centre of the flowers.  I then fussy cut the flower and added it to my card.  I trimmed the panel down and matted with some purple card. 

A quick CAS card. 

And Jacinda has announced that the government has set up a 4 step alert re COVID-19.  So we are currently at Level 2 - we have 53 cases - mostly people who came into the country from overseas travel... but two possible community transmission.  We are to limited social interaction, work from home where we can - which I will be doing for the next little while...but how I will work for 7hrs 35 minutes each day without being tempted to craft will challenge me!

Take care of yourselves where ever you are 

WWC 263 Tristan's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Masculine Twist

Hi there - time for another challenge at Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Tristan is our hostess with an Anything Goes with a Masculine Twist.  

 My card today is for my son-in-law's birthday which is on 20 March

I used an older embossing folder with some dark green card and then swiped some white ink over top.  I made the little shirt with some cactus patterned paper following a template I saw online.
Edited:  here it is from Frenchie...https://frenchiestamps.com/2020/01/tropical-men-shirt-card.html

Come and join in the fun at  Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and check out the project from the other designers.  Then take our challenge and link up your project to the challenge post.    We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday at 5 pm Mountain Standard Time (Tuesday at 12.00 noon NZ time ) to link up your project.

Black Background

I saw that the challenge theme over at Just Us Girls is "Black Background"

I was part way through making a card with a black background when I saw the challenge, so once I finished, I'm adding it.

I had  been playing last weekend with my Scan'n'Cut and the WRMK Foil quill pens together with a USB from WRMK's.  It's a Kelly Creates one and has this lovely double line sentiments.  I used some silver foil on the black card.  So today I finished off the card.  I added three flowers from an Altenew freebie from a year or so ago.  I used some white card and stamped with Catherine Pooler Rockin' Red and Grass Skirt inks.  I added some darker ink to the centres.  Two of the flowers are glued directly to the card base and one is on some dimensional tape.   

It was a lovely weekend for me as I got to spend some time with my son and grand-daughter.  Kieran was on Daddy duty while Mummy was away for the day and night at a Hen's party.  Grace had her 10 month photo done first thing Saturday morning.  She was a little champ as we had to wake her up.  She had fallen asleep in the car on the way to the hall where the photos are taken.  Still managed a smile!  Then we went up to the local Mall and had a bit of early lunch... sushi for little Miss and avocado on toast for Nanny and Daddy

She is growing so quickly now.  Got her first tooth on her 10 month anniversary... and is now an independent stander.... so won't be long till she works out that she can walk.

I am feeling a bit sad, though as it seems my daughter, son in law and grandson won't be able to come at Easter as NZ has put in place a 14 day self isolating for all people coming into NZ from midnight Sunday.  It's initially for 16 days but will see what happens after that.  At this stage, it's a bit of wait and see if they will make it or whether they will postpone till later in the year.  I know Archie will be very disappointed as he is already talking about coming to see me.  

Well that's it for today.  Hope your weekend is going well.  

St Patrick's Day over at Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

Hi there.  It's time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' challenge and our theme is

 

St Patrick's Day (or use Green!)

Remember to include some stamping otherwise we won't be able to 

 include you in our Top 3!

 Here is the card I made to celebrate St Patrick's Day

 I went through my scrap stash and found the plaid oval for the basis of my card.  I used a plain olive green as my panel and printed the sentiment.  I die cut the bench out of some grey card and sponged the edges.  The little girl is a Bugaboo image that I printed and coloured and then fussy cut.

So now it's over to you, we'd love to have you playing along.

 I'm adding my card to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge:  Use some Green

WWC 262 - Marsha's Challenge: All About Ocassions

 Hello there, it’s time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge. Marsha  is our hostess this week with an All About Occasions challenge.

 My card today is uses some Altenew Washi tape.  I fussy cut around some of the flowers and added to a card that I had added a Go Press and Foil sentiment on and some green and gold splatter.   The little tag is some ephemera I had in my stash.

Come and join the fun.  Check out the projects that the other artists at Watercooler Wednesday

Challenge have created.  Then take our challenge and link your creation to the challenge post.  We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday at 5 pm Mountain Standard Time (Tuesday at 12.00 noon NZ time ) to link up your project.

More Altenew Inspiration.

I'm back with some more cards inspired by Altenew.... two cards inspired by Altenew Designers.

First up - Inspired by Lydia - and her video HERE.
Lydia used Watercolour Roses for an easy watercolour look - I was inspired by her design as well as no line colouring.

I've used Rennie Rose stamp set and used Vanilla Cream ink to stamp the flowers and leaves onto some watercolour paper.  I used Altenew 36 pan watercolour paints to colour the images.   I added a bold sentiment from the Hello Gorgeous set stamped in Obsidian black ink.   A few pink sequins to finish.

I'm adding this to The Flower Challenge this month.  - Anything Goes 

My second card was inspired by Amber in her first Colour Combination video - HERE,.

Amber made a gorgeous card using Frayed Leaf, Wisteria and Iceberg inks.  She used a layering stamp and left off the first layer.   I tried that, but as my stamp (Simple Beauty) only has two layers, I did add the first layer.   My stamp is still fairly new and the Wisteria ink beaded up a little but I love the look it gave the flower.  I also was inspired by Amber using the blue on top of the green to give a different look to the leaves.   I added some dark purple splatters with some ink spray and finished with a sentiment from Classic Beauty set.  I matted with some pale blue card and then onto a white card base.   I am adding this one to the Altenew Monthly Challenge

Thanks for stopping by.  I had a fun weekend making beautiful flower cards. 

Inpsired by Altenew Educators Blog hop...

I've been following along the blog hop by the Altenew Educators... Here..  So totally amazing inspiration and there is a Linky Party so you can share your "For the Love of Flowers".

I also, this week saw a fabulous technique by the incredible Laura Bassen (you can see her Youtube here)- using Distress Oxides, a stencil and some white pigment ink.   So together these two inspired me to create a card or two!

CARD 1;

For this one I used Distress Oxide inks in a variety of greens with a little touch of blue to add some blending on the background.  I then took the Altenew stencil - Rose Bouquet and used Colorbox Frosh White pigment ink and a blending tool to pounce the ink.  Added a little stamped sentiment from Best Sentiments ( the little gift from Altenew a while back)   I added some Lucy's Little Things Ice Cube jewels.

So I was wondering if this technique would work with Altenew Dye inks as I didn't have the colours I wanted to use in DO inks.  I was looking at the Altenew March challenge

 so onto
CARD 2:

And I'm happy to say the Altenew inks were a moderate success.  Next time I would try some slightly darker inks.... but still really happy with the results I got.   I used some Fresh Leaf, Ultra Violet and Persian Blue inks to blend before adding the white pigment.  I added some splatters with the white ink and Andromeda inks.  Sentiment is from the same set as the first card.

Both cards are being added to the Linky Party and the second one to the monthly challenge.    I LOVE my Altenew flowers so will be doing some more over the weekend I'm sure.

I'm also adding the second card to the Anything Goes challenge at The Flower Challenge

Thanks for stopping by.

Anything Goes at Southern Girls Challenge.

Hi there - It's time for another Challenge at Southern Girls - Anything Goes.  This fortnight our sponsors are

 

 My card today uses some Altenew products that are available at Auzz Trinklets N Crafts.

This stamp set is called Watercolor Halftone and I have stamped it in grey inks.  The base card is actually dark grey (it looks almost navy in my photo)  The sentiment stripe is also from Altenew. 
I don't like to have to make these sorts of cards and this one is even harder.  A blogger friend recently lost her teenage son... very sad.   My heartfelt sympathy goes to her and her family. 

Do come and join our challenge at Southern Girls. 

WWC#261 Kath's challenge: Anything Goes with a Feminine Twist.

Hello there, it’s time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Kath is our hostess this week with an Anything Goes with a Feminine Twist. 

Here is my card this week.  

 

 I am a great lover of the colour Purple.  I took some watercolour paper and stamped the Altenew Book Club stamp and die set and used some Obsidian ink to stamp.  I used some Zig Markers to colour the image and then die cut it.  I wanted to add some gold splatter but found if I watered down the Altenew Enchanted Gold it was not very vibrant.  So I took the Your Next Stamp Mini Splatter stamp and used the gold ink to make my splatters.   I made a card base from watercolour paper and layered my die cut on it.  

Come and join the fun.  Check out the projects that the other artists at Watercooler Wednesday

Challenge have created.  Then take our challenge and link your creation to the challenge post.  We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday at 5 pm Mountain Standard Time (Tuesday at 12.00 noon NZ time ) to link up your project.

CCC - February 2020 reveal

Hi there.... It's time to reveal the card I sent to Linda W in the USA -

This month we had the following options:

Theme Options:  Nature / The Moon / Friendship or
Product / Technique Options: Glossy Accents (or similar)/Watercolouring

My card uses the sketch and colours... with Nature 

I

I am loving Altenew stamps and this is a new one to me.  It's called Classic Beauty and I used a number of Altenew inks - to stamp the layers on the flower and the leaves.  I then used the matching dies to cut then out.   For my background I took some Pink Diamond ink and softly blended a little circle of colour.  I stamped the sentiment from the Classic Beauty set in Sapphire ink.  The stripes from Simon Says Stamp - Scenery Stripes were stamped in Sapphire ink.  I matted the panel onto some soft grey card then onto a white card.





Thanks for stopping by. 

New challenge at Die Cut Divas....Anything Goes

Hi there.  1 March 2020 - how quickly the year is flying by! 
Time for a new challenge at Die Cut Divas - and a new sponsor this month

Our theme is: ANYTHING GOES. So be your creative self and make what you want, need or desire to do, but be sure to use dies and/or embossing folders in your creations... You can also use your electronic cutting machines too.

What a wonderful shop to offer to you, our blog readers a 20% off coupon for the month of March (Code DIECUTDIVAS20). This is a brand new sponsor for our blog, so please be sure to visit Chic Chickadee Crafts to see what products you might like.

The prize is a $20 gift certificate! 

My card to day uses a lovely set, but as I have had it awhile, it now unfortunately now unavailable. But there a lots of lovely set available to you 

Isn't this little penguin so cute... I printed him out and used my Scan'n'Cut to cut him out. I got the sweet Pennant Frame die in a mystery box from Uniquely Creative (an Australian company) and used some copper coloured card to die cut the largest frame. I also cut it two more times from white card to layer together. I had the sparkly patterned paper in my stash and as it look very party like I trimmed a piece to fit behind the frame. I used a punch to cut out the sentiment (also from the Sugartree set) I added the frame to a card base and then used my ruler and craft knife to trim it into a Pennant as well. 

My crafty friend, here in NZ, Janet's has her birthday today, so this was sent to her. 

Do come and join us at Die Cut Divas this month... It's an Anything Goes challenge