Friday 31 October 2014

Boo!

Hi guys!
Here's a fun white on white card I made for some challenges (listed below). I wanted to use a cute Fall/Halloween themed set by Avocado Arts (last months stamp club set) but wasn't too keen for going for a traditional Halloween look or colors -Halloween isn't very big in Finland... So I came up with playing with whites only. I've used my new falling snow- stencil and embossing paste to create the background (loved both items!) and heat embossed the ghost with white powder on vellum. I rolled some transparent double-sided tape to the back of the white string -that helps to keep the vellum on place. Hope you like! Have a fun weekend and Happy Halloween for those who celebrate it!

http://addictedtostamps-challenge.blogspot.fi/ CAS
http://addictedtocas.blogspot.fi/ Vellum (my 2nd entry)
http://casology.blogspot.fi/2014/10/week-119-ghost.html Ghost

Wednesday 29 October 2014

STAMPlorations Spotlight Project: Quick and Easy CAS One Layer







Hi friends!
See the fab Joyful Stamp Set by STAMPlorations above? I used it for creating this quick, easy to mail one layer CAS card... And am sharing a simple photo tutorial on how to make it at STAMPlorations blog. I hope you'll check out the tutorial and leave me a comment there! 

Psst... Have you heard of STAMPlorations stamp club? Joyful is the 5" by 7" stamp set  STAMPlorations is offering for October/November. Stamp club members can get this set for just $21 with FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE! Check out the Bi-Monthly Stamp Club  Here. 

Tuesday 28 October 2014

Vellum and Die Cuts

Hi guys!
Here's a quick Christmas card I made for the current Addicted to CAS Challenge: Vellum. I've heat embossed my Christmas sentiment (in Finnish) with white powder on vellum -I love the way that looks. The beautiful die cut poinsettia and leaf swirl come form Loll, she sent me a set of these last year and luckily I still have some left for this year's Christmas cards too. :) Thank you Loll, that was such an awesome gift! This post is a quickie, work calls... But have a fun day everyone!

Sunday 26 October 2014

Happy Birthday Shirley!

Hi all!

My STAMPlorations team mate Shirley is celebrating her birthday today, woo hoo! There's a linky party for her honor in Maria's blog, thank you Maria for organizing the celebrations!

Shirley is not only an amazing card maker but a stamp designer too: her own stamp line Bee's Knees is available here and in my card I've used her stamp called CityGirl. I've combined it with VIGNETTE: It's Your Day sentiment stamp. The jacket of my CityGirl is paper pieced with pale pink card which I've "dottyfied" with white gel pen. The edges of the jacket are also sponged with pink ink for added dimension. Apart from the jacket the image is colored with Copics. I kept this super CAS -I tried to add embellies but I liked it better without!

I hope you like my card Shirley! It's on it's way to you... Fashionably late. :) Happy Birthday!

Saturday 25 October 2014

Photo Inkspiration at Inkspirational!



Hello friends!
We have a fun new photo inspiration challenge for you at Inkspirational! Owls are very special birds aren't they and there's so many fun owl stamps around that would be perfect for our photo inspiration... But remember you could also be inspired by the colors and/or the shapes in the photo, you don't have to use an owl -or any bird -in your card. I love the creative freedom photo inspirations give! I hope you'll check out the fun cards by our DT and the talented guest designer Maura from the challenge blog.

My tag is not at all CAS this time, there's a lot going on and to be honest I'm not sure if I like it... But I'll give it to some of my nieces with their Christmas present and maybe they will like the cuteness of it. I do love Walter the Owl from Willow Designs -unfortunately not available anymore. I colored him with Copics and added golden Stickles to the "fluffy" parts of his hat + gave his eyes a glossy treatment. :) "Hyvää Joulua" is Merry Christmas in Finnish and the blue snowflakes are stamped with Hero Arts Neon Blue ink I got some days ago -LOVE those inks, want more!! How many ink pads can one own?!? You who are wiser than me, let me know. :) 

Happy crafting, I hope to see you at Inkspirational!


Thursday 23 October 2014

"Birds of a feather flock together" at TIME OUT


Hi friends!
There's a new challenge for you at TIME OUT Challenges: We are inspired by words

"Birds of a feather flock together" 

This might lead you to birds, love, feathers... My inspiration is obvious although the two lovebirds (stamps by Avocado Arts) look quite small in comparison with the big punched leaves... And maybe the double-frame looks a bit heavy too.. In case you didn't yet realize it, this card is definitely not one of my favorites!! :) Sometimes you have a clear vision of what you want to make and then it just doesn't work.. No matter how many days (!) you try to put the card together. Maybe a re-make next week. :)

I hope to see you all playing along at TIME OUT! If you need more inspiration, check out the DT cards here: I just love our DT and the cards the girls provide us every time. Beautiful work challenge after challenge! We also have a guest designer, Jill V, she made a stunning Christmas card with birds... Great idea, Christmas is soon around the corner!! 

Happy crafting everyone!


Wednesday 22 October 2014

Happy Birthday Debra!


Happy Birthday STAMPlorations girl Debra!
We are celebrating Debra's birthday at STAMPlorations with a wonderful array of cards here. I hope you'll check out all the fun cards we made for Debra... And if you don't know her, check out her blog: she is a very skillful colorer and makes the cutest cards with artsy, personal touch. Have a look! 

In my card I've used several STAMPlorations stamps and I suggest you have a visit at the store here for having a look of all the great stamps available right now! I'm quite happy with the background but I'm so sorry Debra... The stamping on vellum didn't work out at all this time... I thought my ink would work well with vellum but no! So it's a mess... Don't touch it when you get the card (fashionably late by the way)... It's probably still wet! :) Some drops and pretty ribbon are trying to draw the attention away from the messy sentiment... Hee hee! Anyways, congrats again Debra and I hope you were spoiled today! 

Monday 20 October 2014

New Sketch at STAMPlorations!




HI friends!
We have a new sketch for you at STAMPlorations! It's a very versatile sketch, good for both CAS and more layered looks. In my DT project (created with Joyful and Christmas Flower stamp sets) I followed the sketch by coloring in only the wreath in the center of the card -as you can see the other wreaths have just outlines. I sponged the edges of my stamped panel with green DI:s for vintage look and chose red and kraft for my other colors -a very traditional Christmas color combo. The copics used in my wreath are YG03, G21 and YG67 for green and R27 and R59 for red. I also added some white gel pen to the berries for "light". The sentiment is heat embossed with white. This must be one of my favorite STAMPlorations Christmas sentiments! :)

I hope you'll now head on over to STAMPlorations challenge blog for all the challenge details. There's a beautiful display of DT cards there for your inspiration, you don't want to miss them! Our guest designer this time is Leslie: she made a beautiful card using digi products from All About Scrapping that you have a change to win too if you enter our challenge! Don't forget our monthly challenge (the theme is embossing) is also still running here. Happy crafting! 

The stamp sets I used:




Thursday 16 October 2014

TIME OUT Challenges Reminder!



Hello friends!
I'm here to remind you about our current challenge at TIME OUT Challenges! We are CASEing the talented Heather Telford's beautiful watercolor leaves card that she made for our inspiration. In my second CASE of this card I changed leaves to flowers but followed Heather's color palette and layout. I also sponged the stamped edges but left the un-stamped edges white -I think this adds nice contrast. The stamps, apart from Finnish Sentiment "For Mum", come from Papertrey Ink. My mum keeps complaining me that after I got my puppy I don't call her often enough... So hopefully this card will make her happy. :) I hope to see you all playing along at TIME OUT, you still have almost a week to CASE Heather's card and enter! Happy crafting!

I'd like to enter:
http://fusioncardchallenge.blogspot.fi/ Inspiration Photo (Daisies... And rustic feel!)



Wednesday 15 October 2014

STAMPlorations Spotlight: Christmas Stocking!


Hi friends! 
It's my turn to show a Spotlight project at STAMPlorations and here are the two cards I created using the October stamp club set Joyful! I've used some fun techniques to add color to the stamped Christmas stockings... Please head on over to STAMPlorations and find out more! 

I'd like to enter the card with white card base to CAS on Sunday: Embossing



Here's the fab new set, Joyful!





Saturday 11 October 2014

Purple with Grey/Silver at Inkspirational!

Hi friends!
We have a new challenge for you at Inkspirational and it's a really sophisticated color combo: purple with grey/silver (I used both)! The challenge will run for a fortnight. I made a CAS Christmas card with stamps I've got as a gift from my crafting buddy Sandie, thanks hon! I love this festive deer stamp. The snowflakes are from the same stamp set and I embellished them with clear rhinestones. The sentiment is Finnish for "Merry Christmas", my favorite Christmas sentiment stamp!

Before making your card for the challenge I hope you'll spend a moment admiring the inspiration from Inkspirational DT and talented guest designer Lynda. You'll love their cards! Happy crafting, I hope to see you at Inkspirational!

I'd like to enter:
http://virginiasviewchallenge.blogspot.ca/ CAS (my 2nd entry)


Thursday 9 October 2014

CASEing Heather Telford at TIME OUT!



Hi guys!
We are CASEing Heather Telford at TIME OUT Challenges and adding our own twists to the design as the challenge name "CASE With Your Own Twist" tells us! Heather is a very inspirational blogger. Her blog is filled with water color and sponging wonders... Don't hesitate to pay her a visit!

The card Heather  made for TIME OUT is brilliant! I love the fall colors and the way she sponged the panel to give an illusion of light peaking through the leaves. I happened to have a patterned paper that has white, subtle leaves in it and I decided to use it in my CASE card -that meant that my twist was going to be changing the color palette! I stamped some PTI leaves and berries to the paper, following Heather's layout, and stamped also a sentiment in Finnish, it translates to something like "Luck and Happiness". After that I used blue DI for sponging the corners of the paper, trying to create the look of light in the center of the card. I think the white leaves of the patterned paper helped in achieving that goal. A couple of half pearls add a bit of dimension, the card looked a bit flat without them!

I'm blown away with the DT projects this week, I think Heather inspired the TO DT to make amazing cards! Do check out all the cards from our challenge blog. You'll also notice that this time Carol is our guest designer: I love her card with sponged leaf die-cuts  and I know you'll love it too! After admiring everyone's work it's your turn to take TIME OUT and craft! :) Have a fun day everyone! 

I'd like to enter:
http://virginiasviewchallenge.blogspot.ca/ CAS (Hmm, is this CAS enough?!?)

Monday 6 October 2014

New Sketch at STAMPlorations!



Hi guys!
It's time for the first sketch challenge of October at STAMPlorations! Play along in all 3 challenges in October at STAMPlorations and you have a chance to win an extra prize of 12 assorted rub-ons (photo below). We also have stamp prizes, digi prizes and guest designer spots on offer for you: all the details are in the challenge blog. You'll find a stunning display of DT cards there too, I'm sure you'll love everyone's work! We are very glad to have Elaine as our guest designer: she makes the most fantastic CAS cards and I love the flower card she created for us with this sketch.

Pack of 12 Rubons Transfers Rub-ons Assorted - Cardmaking Mixed Media Scrapbooking - New without packaging

In my DT card I used the beautiful sunflower stamp from Bloom Sketches. I used clear embossing powder and white cardstock in my emboss resist background but as you see, the sunflowers are sort of yellowish: I had a happy ink accident... I had just been stamping with the suflower stamp and yellow Archival ink -Archival ink stains stamps easily as you probably know -mine was not dry yet so some of the ink was removed from the stamp when I inked it with Versamark. So there it was, yellowish sunflowers! My Versamark pad got all stained but I was embossing with white powder today in another project and it seems to work fine so no harm done. :) I then used DI:s (Fired Brick and Wild Honey) for sponging over the embossed sunflowers. Quite pretty I think! The sentiment comes from the same stamp set. 

I hope to see you all at STAMPlorations

I'd like to enter:
http://fusioncardchallenge.blogspot.fi/ Sunflower photo inspiration

Friday 3 October 2014

October Challenge at STAMPlorations: Embossing!


Hi guys!
Wow, October already... It was just August! New month brings new challenges to STAMPlorations and we start with the month long challenge: Embossing. Our first fortnightly sketch challenge begins on Monday and there's another sketch challenge coming after that: Play along in all 3 challenges in October and you have a chance to win an extra prize of 12 assorted rub-ons (photo below). We also have stamp prizes, digi prizes and guest designer spots on offer for you: all the details are in the challenge blog. You'll find a stunning display of DT cards there too, I'm sure you'll love everyone's work! We are very proud to have the superstar of stamping, Virginia Lu, as our guest designer this month.  

Pack of 12 Rubons Transfers Rub-ons Assorted - Cardmaking Mixed Media Scrapbooking - New without packaging

My DT card was a very simple, fast make but I think the heat embossing on vellum gives it a nice look! I've been making a lot of cards with darker colors (and a lot of blue!) lately and I thought it was about time to bring in the happy yellows and pinks again. :) My sketch inspiration comes from Clean and Simple Stamping, one of my favorite sketch blogs. Natasha's DT card with vellum was extra inspirational! It's a pity it's weeks since I've played along last time! I popped the stamped panel up from the card base with 3d stickers and added some rhinestones for bling. Now that I'm looking at the card I think I might remove the rhinestones. Hmm. What do you think? 


Before I send you off to STAMPlorations, have a look at the stamp sets I used in my card:


stmp1055.jpeg


stmp1039.jpeg

Have a good weekend everyone!