Happy Clips

I'm so happy to be crafting again. I have been unwell recently and have been resting - boring!  This means I have not been able to play in my craft room which makes me unhappy.  Yesterday I felt well enough to try a quick project.  Once again I kept current challenges in mind from Simon Says Stamp, Inspiration Emporium and A Blog Named Hero (more details on them at the end).

When I saw the Kelly Purkey and Hero Arts die plus stamp combo for planner clips I just had to have it. I stalked every place I knew I could order it from. It would go out of stock super quickly everywhere I looked (or the shipping to NZ was too expensive). Eventually, I managed to place an order before it went out of stock [again]. I was so excited and oh so happy. I waited patiently for it to arrive and when it did, it when straight to my craft desk. And there it sat. Occasionally, I would move it around as I worked on other projects. (I can''t believe I am even admitting this out loud!). This was the set I just had to have, remember? The challenges gave me the impetus to actually crack open the packet and put it to work. Once I cut one set of the planner clips and saw how awesome they were I just kept grabbing other pieces of scrap cardstock and kept feeding them through my machine. Seriously, awe.some!

Once the clips were cut, after my euphoria at how awesome they were had calmed down, I set to using the matching stamp on the diecuts. Hey, why stop there; I played with other stamp sets I had as well. Everything just worked together so brilliantly! I was so happy!

These are the clips I made. Some of them are double-sided (stamped on both sides)

See, I said this die and stamp set is awesome.

More beauties - the B sides of the double-sided ones:

Remember that cute, red Filofax I showed you in my last post? My plan was to use the clips in this planner and boy, do they look fab. This makes me so happy.  I cut plenty more and I have put them in my stash for use on other projects as they still look awesome naked (not stamped). Very. Happy.

You might have noticed my [excessive?] use of the word happy. This is because the Inspiration Emporium challenge is: Happy. I was so happy to finally be ok to play. I was so happy to crack into my just had to have it product (finally!). I was so happy to see how awesome the die cuts are and how cool they look in my planner. The details for the challenge are here.

The other challenges I am entering are:
Simon Says Stamp: Work it Wednesday - Use a Stamp. The details are here.
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Use a Stamp. The details are here.
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - No Designer Paper. I didn't use any designer paper for these clips. I used scrap cardstock and stamps to add colour and patterns. The teal patterned clips are actually cut from the packaging for Kaisercraft pocket scrapbooking cards - the inside was patterned (brilliant!). The details are here.
A Blog Named Hero - Die Cutting. For once I was able to use a Hero Art product for their challenge: the planner clips die and stamp combo by Kelly Purkey.  The details are here.

Materials: Die - Hero Arts/Kelly Purkey; Stamps - Hero Arts/Kelly Purkey, Technique Tuesday, Pink & Main, Ruby Rocket; Ink - Stampin' Up!, Ranger. Various Cardstock Scraps and Kaisercraft packaging.

#Plannernerd In The House

It's no secret that I am a [self-confessed] Planner Nerd! #Plannernerd in the house.  I love seeing all the professional planners that people use, and I covet them desperately, but I won't let myself spend so many $$$ when I have an inexpensive spiral bound planner that does the job.  When I was browsing in a NZ chain stationery store recently I found this little beauty in the clearance section:

Isn't she gorgeous? She is a Filiofax pocket organisor and you can get an idea of the size by seeing the instax mini photo on top. Best of all - she is red! (My favourite colour).  I'm not sure what I will do with it exactly yet (Instax photo binder?) but I decided to add some decoration. The Filofax came with a plastic sleeve so I decided to decorate a little bit. There are three challenges over at Simon Says Stamp so I kept these challenges in mind when I created my masterpieces:

The pocket is from Gossamer Blue and I created the background with CTMH washi tape. The stamps are by Tim Holtz (hidden) and Ali Edwards, The love punch is by Teresa Collins and the puffy heart is by Heidi Swapp.  Here's a close-up with the photo removed from the plastic sleeve:

As you can see I decorated the back also:

The phrase on the right really suits me - probably because I am not tall at all! (you can see that from the photos). The colours of the print work beautifully with the Filofax.  I stamped a phrase from Tim Holtz stamp set on vellum and added a butterfly with a black dot of perfect pearls. The photo corner is an embossed resist paper by Hot Off The Press and coloured with black ink.  Here's the close-up of the second photo with the photo out of the plastic sleeve:

This blog post is for three challenges at Simon Says Stamp:
Simon Says Stamp main blog page - Link up a project using a Tim Holtz stamp. I used Tim Holtz stamps on both pages:  #Hashtags and Simple Sentiments. The blog post is here.
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stamp and Punch. I used a punch on both pages - love and the photo corner - plus stamped sentiments. The details are here.
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Use a Stamp. Um, totally rocked this challenge by using sentiment stamps on both pages (LOL!). I did the blog hop too so fingers crossed! The details are here.

Materials:
Stamps: Tim Holtz, Ali Edwards; Ink: Stazon, Versafine; Punches: Teresa Collins, EK Success, Martha Stewart; Washi - Close To My Heart; Puffy Heart: Heidi Swapp; Paper Scraps: Hot Off The Press, Bo Bunny, Vellum; Pocket - Gossamer Blue; Perfect Pearls : Ranger. Alcohol Pen: Kaisercraft, Copic.

SSS Double Challenge - Trio of Colours and Anything Goes

The #PlannerNerd is back!  This week I'm sharing the set up in my diary for the week August 31 to September 6 (Diary =  planner for the American readers).  This set up just happens to be eligible for two challenges this week over at Simon Says Stamp: Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge -Trio of Colours, and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.  As you can see I used a Trio of Colours for this week: Brown, Blue and Pink (raspberry?). I used a few shades of blue but I am sure it still counts as one colour in a trio.

The base for my layout this week was the viewfinder stamp from Close To My Heart. I stamped the image on both sides of the flip element.  I do love having a cinch to add things like this into my planners. I ended up using the other stamps in this set elsewhere in the layout too: the hexagons beneath the To Do stamp (Heidi Swapp) and the chevrons as an element on the bottom of the page. Where I have stamped [EPIC] I will write in my daily gratitude; I may even roll over the Heidi Swapp 30 Day Challenge into the new month - I have left two spaces free to fill-in in case I do decide to repeat the challenge. The other stamps I used are from Heidi Swapp and Technique Tuesday.  I used a Heidi Swapp mini stamp set to highlight a birthday this week and Father's Day. The Technique Tuesday stamp is to remind me to do my physio exercises as I often forget (I love that it has a check box!).

The challenge details are as below:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge -Trio of Colours is here
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes is here (closing today!)

Materials: Stamps - Close To My Heart, Heidi Swapp, Technique Tuesday; Ink - Prima; Washi - Reflections. Binding - Cinch WRMK; Cardstock - from my scrap bin.

SSS Anything Goes for Father's Day

The latest challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog is Anything Goes! Perfect! It is Father's Day in New Zealand this weekend so I whipped up a card for Dad. I finally played with a stag die from the Maggie Holmes Open Book collection. Man, I coveted that die for so long but couldn't let myself spend NZ$50 on a die set just for one element! Luckily, I found it on clearance with an extra 50% off so I could justify the purchase (sometimes it is good working within minutes of a large chain craft store - other times  resisting the temptation is not so great!). Boy, I do love that stag die cut!

As you can see I kept things pretty simple by layering the die cut on a 3x4 pocket scrapbooking card and added a tag. Originally I wanted to emboss the stag die cut with a wood grain embossing folder but then I decided to do a plain card base and stamp it with a woodgrain stamp - genius! (even if I say so myself!). I also drew around the die cut to make it stand out and give the impression of it being 3D as if it was hanging on a wall.

For the inside I added a Happy Father's Day stamp but I wanted the sentiment to say more than that. I looked at my birthday verse stamps and decided to alter one to fit the theme.  I inked the verse stamp carefully avoiding getting ink on the word Birthday and then added the words Father's Day with an acrylic stamp afterwards. I think it looks as if it fits the theme of Father's Day and even as if I am highlighting the word Father's Day. What do you think?

The details for the challenge I am entering this card for are here at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

Materials: Die - Maggie Holmes, Tim Holtz; Stamps - Pink & Main, Rubbadubbadoo, Hastings Art Stamps, Stampin' Up!; Ink and Marker - Stampin' Up, Pocket Scrapbooking Card - Kaisercraft; Other - Paper, Card (Unknown)