Inspired By - A Blog Named Hero Challenge

It's been a long time since I have participated in a challenge at A Blog Named Hero.  Maybe it means I mean some more Hero Arts stamps to inspire me :) The September challenge is: inspired by another crafter . I was inspired by Caren Bartholomew's card which was inspired by Jill Hawkins.

What inspired me in Caren's card was the watercoloured background over a heat embossed background stamp.  I pulled out a Hero Arts background stamp that I bought last year but hadn't used yet - shocking! A little funny side note: I thought the stamp was called Hello Darling because it had a label on it.  Turns out that it was just a Wordfetti sticker that had stuck to it LOL.

After heat embossing the background, I pulled out my new Vicki Boutin watercolour pens to watercolur a background.  In August, I attended Creative Adventure Downunder and took mixed media classes with Vicki.  I now feel more confident to give watercolour and mixed media a go.   I even watercoloured the white string and the card base - look at me go! You could say I was also inspired by Vicki Boutin for this challenge criteria.  Here's my card:

As mentioned above, I am entering this card at the September challenge at A Blog Named Hero - Inspired by Another Crafter

Materials:
Stamps: Hero Arts
Embossing Powder: Wow and Celebrations of Australia
Embossing ink: Ranger
Watercolour Pens: Vicki Boutin (American Crafts) and Momento
Washi: Mambi
Edger Punch: Martha Stewart
Other: string, scrap cardstock, Watercolour paper

S is for ...

S is for Anything Goes! Ok, not really, but I thought I'd try and get away with it. 😊

There are two challenges that I am entering a card for over at Simon Stays Stamp blog. The first one is Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. That criteria is simple to meet.  The second challenge is at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and it is S is for . S is for SEPTEMBER which is a big birthday month (3 birthdays) so I need birthday cards. S is also for new SUPPLIES and techniques which I pulled out to play with. And S is for SOMEONE SPECIAL who is the recipient of this birthday card. Lastly S is for STENCIL which I used.

 And now the inside:

At Creative Adventure Downunder recently I had the pleasure of taking mixed media classes from Vicki Bouton. She is super cool. I wanted to try out the techniques straight away so that I could lock them in to my memory. Which is why I started making my card with a watercoloured base - I always wanted to be able to do this and now I've learned how. I wanted to use my new Pink and Main 'happy birthday' die which is really cool. The rest of the card came together after that.

Materials:
Vicki Bouton - art crayons, stencil and rose gold glaze
Mambi washi tape
Pink & Main die
Penny Black Stamp (inside)
Ranger Archival ink (inside)
American Crafts Sticker (Pink Paisley)
Cardstock scraps

A Zebra in an Unicorn Outfit

What happened to May and June?  It's been busy around here and the blog has been neglected.  It's about time I rectify the situation.  Excuse the not-so-great photos.  I snapped them quickly as I wanted to get the blog updated without further delay.

My latest project is a card for the BFF's daughter.  I originally wanted to create a unicorn card, because the birthday girl loves unicorns, but I don't have any unicorn items.  I did however, have a zebra - close enough right?  I got distracted by a technique I wanted to try which didn't work out - I tried adding coloured glitter and microbeads to embossing mousse (they didn't show through sadly).  I fixed it by sprinkling glitter over the still wet embossing mousse.  Then I got distracted by a mermaid theme as it suited the stencil I used.  I don't have mermaids either so I fussy cut some from some patterned paper.  Those who know me, know I hate fussy cutting #itmustbelove .  The final project is not my best work but it will do:

On the inside I wrote a special birthday message and covered it with a scratch off sticker.  Hopefully I am not encouraging gambling by doing that!

When I saw the birthday girl last week and told her I already bought her present and made her card she wanted to know if there was a unicorn on her card, because she loooooooves unicorns! Sigh. So I had to try and add one in of course.  The only space left was on the back and I still only had the zebra shape:

I hope the birthday girl likes her card with a zebra dressed as a unicorn (or a unicorn in a zebra outfit - whatever works).

Materials:
Tonic Studios - embossing mousse
American Crafts - glitter, sticker, mermaid paper, stencil
Pink & Main - stamp
Ranger - ink
Studio Calico - acrylic pieces, scratch off sticker
Other - card, balloon brad, embroidery thread

Mothers Day Card Using Simon Says Stamp Challenges

Mother's Day is coming up so I sat down to make a card for my lovely mum. The latest challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is Beautiful Blooms . This set the theme for my card. I was dying to use the new Kaisercraft sticker tablet I purchased recently and they had some lovely blooms in there - how convenient! I think the stickers with the burgundy card was stunning enough that it didn't need much more adornment than that. I just embossed the sentiment, added some pearls to the bottom left and used a fancy corner punch on the top right edge. I really like this card and I'm sure my mum will too.

This card is being entered in two Simon Says Stamp Challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Beautiful Blooms as previously mentioned
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - No Designer Paper as no designer paper was used in the making of this card.

Materials:
Kaisercraft: sticker tablet, pearls, stamp
Versamark: embossing ink
American Crafts: Zing embossing powder
Misti: stamp platform
EK Success: anti-static brush
Fiskars: corner punch
Other: card

#31Minutesfor31Days Recap

In March, I joined in on #31minutesfor31days which meant I committed to doing 31 minutes of crafting a day for 31 days.  I am proud to say that I managed to craft every day in March and only one day did I do less than the required 31 minutes (I did 25 minutes).

At first I worked on some older projects from crafting events (CAD 2018) and then I found a box of even older unfinished projects. There were more items in there than I remembered so I knew I would be sorted for projects for the rest of March!  In the second weekend of March I attended Pretty Rustic 2 which was a crafting event to create 20 layouts in 2 days.  The plan was to create 10 layouts each day, but I only managed 2.5 layouts on Day 1 and 2 layouts on Day 2!  That left me 15.5 layouts to work on during March and I am glad to say that I managed to complete them all by the end of March.  Now I just need to add photos.

Here's some photos from the weekend:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - No Designer Paper

On Friday, I watched a video on trapped embossed resist technique from Jennifer McGuire and I wanted to try the technique out.  Here's what I came up with:

I think I used the wrong inks for the base (I used distress oxides) and, next time, I would take the time to apply the inks with a blending tool for better results.  The black ink pad over the top was not as deep as I expected but I am still happy with how it turned out. All it needed to finish it off was the stamp saying which I embossed.

I am entering this card over at the latest challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which is No Designer Paper .

Materials:
Card base and envelope - Rosies Studio
Inks: distress oxides, Ranger embossing ink, unbranded black ink pad
Embossing powder - Hero Arts (clear) and American Crafts (coloured)
Stamps: Stampin' Up! and Studio Calico

March is National Craft Month

March is National Craft month according to Spotlight.  I'm all in!  Kellie Winnel is also doing #31minutesfor31days this month and I have decided to join in! Most people have projects planned for the 31 days before it started, but I jumped in at the last minute (or day 1 on March 1st).  So, every day in March, I will need to create/craft for 31 minutes (or more hopefully).  I have a craft event coming up this weekend so that is two days accounted for.  I just need to be consistent for the other 29 days in March - how hard can that be LOL!

Here's how I am going so far:
March 1st - created a military themed hat for a party
March 2nd - Worked on a Heidi Swapp layout from CAD2018
March 3rd - Mini accordion album for the above layout
March 4th - Memory Planner prep for March
March 5th - Memory Planner for Feb (awaiting photos)

I deliberately decided to prepare March in my memory planner yesterday so I could join in with this weeks challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  This weeks challenge is Anything Goes.  Here's my prepared monthly page:

On this layout I decided to use some Heidi Swapp rose gold foiling flakes I got in my last order from Simon Says Stamp - yes, they ship internationally!  I had not used them before and just winged it.  Unfortunately the Heidi Swapp glue pen I have I a wide tip one so it is bulkier than I would like.  I also coloured some Prima number stickers with a coral alcohol ink pen to match the layout (this month's colour theme in the book is navy and coral so I ran with that)

Materials:
Heidi Swapp: Planner, Glue Pen, Rose Gold Foil Flakes
Prima: Number Stickers
Ali Edwards: Stories by the month chipboard 31 and today stamp
Kellie Winnel: Stamp (makers gonna make)
Sharpie: Blue/Coral Markers
Sakura: Black Pen
Other: circle punch, paper scrap, alcohol marker

Getting Crafty on Waitangi Day

It's Waitangi Day here in New Zealand so we have a public holiday. I spent the day crafting and it feels good. To start I completed another layout from CAD 2018 using photos from CAD 2018!  The layout is from one of Terhi Koskinen's classes.  It was so funny listening to the rest of the class during this lesson as we were not allowed to use rulers! I was happy to go free-form but many were not happy at all lol!  #terhikoskinenworkshops @terhi_koskinen Here's the layout:

Lately I have been doing a lot of catch up and finishing projects from craft weekends so I was itching to create for creating sakes. I was inspired by the faux stitched blocks on Terhi's layout, an idea popped in to my head and I decided to run with it.  I had a few orange toned chipboard stickers left from the class kit so I wanted to try the matching the colours like in the first layout too. I chose a number of coral, pink and red paper squares from the kit and laid them out. Once I inked the edges and glued them down, I added faux stitching with a Tim Holtz ruler.

Next I decided I really liked the paint behind the squares as in the first layout, but I had already glued the squares down! My alternative was try some water colouring around it. I also added splotches of colours - one of my favourite techniques.

Lastly, I layered on the chipboard stickers and fussy cut 2 storks - love those stalks! I must really love them because I don't like fussy cutting!  I channelled Terhi and just kept adding items from the leftovers of the class kit. Here's my final layout:

I am entering this layout in two challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge -  Add Some Red (definitely some pops of red on my layout - I deliberately made sure to include red so I could enter this challenge)

It's 5:45pm and I forgot I am on cooking dinner tonight so I better get to that now!

Materials:
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Oxides (for watercolouring)
Sprays: Prima and Heidi Swapp (for splotches and some light colour spray)
Waterbrushes: Sakura and Prima
Papers, Swatch Books, Chipboard Stickers: Pick Me Up by Paige Evans by American Crafts (including fussy cut items from the papers)
Glitter Enamel Shapes: Box of Crayons by Shimelle by American Crafts
White Pen: Kikki-K
Sticker: Vicki Boutin by American Crafts (journal box)
Page Base: Heidi Swapp
Stitching Ruler: Tim Holtz
Pen: Sharpie (for faux stitching)
Buttons and Butterflies: from class kit (unknown)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes Feb 2019

The latest challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is Anything Goes.  Lately, I have been working on getting my Heidi Swapp Memory Dex up to date and I am entering my pages for the Anything Goes challenge.

First up is my One Little Word (OLW) title piece for 2019.  My 2019 OLW is More:

Inside are cards expounding on my word for the year and what it could mean for me.

Next up is a memory dex card for a family birthday:

The back side of the same card:

The details for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes can be found here .

Materials:
Memory dex cards/envelope: Heidi Swapp (American Crafts)
Thickers: American Crafts
Numbers dies: Tim Holtz for Sizzix
Dream Big - Amy Tangerine (American Crafts)
Diamond punch: Teresa Collins
Label: Teresa Collins (covered by the tassel as it has DOB info on it)
Chipboard Embellishments: Ali Edwards
Gold number stickers: Kikki-K
Memory dex punch: Heidi Swapp
Stickers: Recollections
Silver/teal cardstock: from my stash

2019 so far ....

Can you believe we are nearly at the end of January already? We are currently in the middle of a heat wave here in New Zealand so it's too hot to craft right now. But I have been completing some craft projects.

First up is my memory planner for last year.  I used this lovely diary from Kaisercraft I bought in Australia.

I stuffed the intro pockets with various labels and tickets from last year.

Here's a monthly layout

Another project I finished up was a TN for my 2017 Australia trip

A sample layout

Finally I completed some Heidi Swapp layouts from Creative Adventure Downunder (CAD) from June last year.

There's still plenty of projects from CAD 2018 that I need to complete.   At least I finished last year's 20 layouts from Pretty Rustic before this year's event happening in March!