Sunday 28 May 2017

AAA CAS Cards Challenge #91 - 3rd Birthday Blog Hop

Hello there friends, it's time for another challenge over at AAA CAS Cards and we are having a MASSIVE celebration for the next fortnight as our little challenge is celebrating it's 3rd Birthday! There's loads of giveaways, blog hopping, sponsors, treasure hunts, prizes and lots more so read on for all the details.


First up and being a birthday challenge it's an easy theme ... BIRTHDAYS and here's what I've created for you. I'm featuring stamps by Uniko, as they are one of our sponsors, and I've used BG Builders Round in Circles with sentiments from the Simple Said Birthday Set and All Occasion Sentiments #6. The curved, stitched die is by MFT Die-namics, another of our sponsors for this special birthday challenge. 



As always there's plenty more super CAS creations by my fellow teamies, with links to their blogs on the AAA Cards blog HERE and below is our blog hop order so don't forget to visit each blog and leave a comment in order to be eligible for a prize.


We're also delighted to be joined by 4 of our ex-design team members: Jenny, Justine, Sandie and Stephanie so I do hope you'll stop by their blogs too this week.


We've loads of generous sponsors for this special challenge and just to give you an idea of which companies have donated these wonderful gifts just take a look at our sponsor board below:


My give-away prize is a £10.00 voucher from Uniko and to be in with a chance please leave a comment below answering my question ... I'm really just being nosy but here goes! 

"What's your favourite crafting tool that you use every time 
and simply couldn't live without and why?"


Once our challenge has ended I'll be doing a random draw for my prize and I'll pop a summary on the blog of what our favourite crafty tools are. For me it would have to be my Tonic Guillotine. To be honest I'm on my second one of these 'bad boys' but as I've been crafting for well over years; I don't think it's doing too bad! It's compact, cuts perfectly every time. It's super strong and it's marked out in centimetres which is so easy for me as I'm simply useless with feet and inches! 

So before I send you off to create, hop and think out your answers please read the instructions below with all the details of how to be eligible for some prizes. Have fun, Good Luck and thanks for calling by today.



Sarah

Saturday 27 May 2017

Less is More #330

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More? It's our recipe week and here's the cue card.


Here's what I've created to inspire you and it's another of those 2-fers! I just love getting extra cards out of the same items - don't you?

To begin with I blended distress inks onto a piece of card stock then brushed Perfect Pearls generously over the top to create my shimmer effect. I die-cut the panel with a circle die then ran it back through the Big Shot inside a We R Memory Keepers Next Level embossing folder. I didn't really need the complete circle for my backdrop on this first card so I sliced it in two to make my 2-fer! 
This first one uses a city landscape die by Clearly Besotted along with a sentiment from their 'Time to Celebrate' set


This time the other half of the circle is upside down and I've used a 'friend' die from Paper Smooches and a 'you are awesome' sentiment from Altenew with a couple of added sequins for extra shimmer.



Don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE 

I hope you'll play along and have some fun! 

Thanks for calling by and I'll be back soon!


Sarah

Saturday 20 May 2017

Less is More #329

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More, I hope you've not put all those shape style stamps away as there's another chance to play with them this week!




Here's my cards and due to lack of time this week it was only going to be the ONE for today but I had a little mojo spurt last night and made a 2-fer using a wonderful geometric set from our sponsor, Uniko. This one's called Background Builders squares. It's teamed with a 'Happy Birthday' sentiment from Simply Said Birthday and the second one uses die-cut letters by MFT Die-Namics with the 'birthday' sentiment from the newly released 'Happy Succulents' set by Uniko.




Next up I've used one of my favourite heart dies here from Neat & Tangled and it's so versatile as you can use both the negative and positive sections of the die-cut to create striking images. It's the negative bits and pieces here which take quite a while to re-stick back in place but I think it's worth the effort! The shapes are coloured using Promarkers and it's mounted on a scalloped rectangle from Mama Elephant with a sentiment and banner by WPlus9.



Don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE 

Hope you'll play along and have some fun and thanks for calling by and I'll be back soon!

Wish me luck this weekend as I'm hosting a New York themed party for my brother and his fiance on Sunday as they are jetting off to get married there later this month and it's our family send off / stag and hen combined party! I must be mad but I've been making all manner of bunting and decorations for my house - instead of crafting!


Sarah

Friday 19 May 2017

Uniko Challenge #41



Hello crafty friends it's that time again when we are announcing our latest challenge over at Uniko and The theme for this one is Masculine with the optional twist of  'Father's Day' and here's my card using the following Uniko sets; but not twisting this time:

Sweet Baby, BG Block - Half Tone and Simply Said for the 'welcome' sentiment



Over at Addicted to Stamps and More it's their 'Make Your Mark' challenge so I'd like to pop this on in there as well as Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where it's a little bit of sparkle so hopefully my sequins will count!


... and I can't resist a two-fer so while the sets were out I did a girlie one ... NOT for the challenge at all; just for the fun of it. I replaced the half-tone BG with the Doodle Flower one and coloured the centres with Promarkers.


... and it's a 'PINK' challenge over at Addicted to CAS so I'm popping this little feminine version in over there!
As always there's plenty of fantastic creations by my fellow teamies, so why not head over to the Uniko blog HERE to check out the links and pay them a visit! I'm sure they'd appreciate it!

                                                       

Our Guest Designer for this challenge is Hannelie of Desert Diva who is one of our previous Uniko Challenge winners and an OUT-standing card maker. Do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word and some love.


You have until Friday, 23rd June to link up to the challenge and all the details you need about prizes and how to play can be found over at Uniko HERE

As always thanks for calling by my blog today and I hope you feel inspired and will play along with us!

Sunday 14 May 2017

AAA CAS Cards Challenge #90

Hello there friends, another fortnight has zipped by and it's time for another challenge over at AAA CAS Cards. The theme for this one is EMBOSSING and I've a bit of a two-fer for you today.

Our sponsor for this challenge is Happy Little Stampers so it seemed only right that I use their products for this one. I started out by creating a background using the Mix Mash set with Altenew Inks (my favourite inks right now). For the first card I've placed a piece of my BG behind 2 popped up die-cut sections using Lawn Fawn Stitched Scalloped border dies which were dry-embossed too. I've then heat-embossed the butterfly from Butterfly Birthday and the sentiment from Doodled Flowers.


The second card is mega simple; just using another piece of the BG created for the first one and popped up on 3d foam with a heat-embossed sentiment from Happy Little Stampers and some gems to finish.


The challenge over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday is 'Going Dotty' so as the Mix Mash set includes lots of 'Dots' I'm going to try my chances there with this one and I'd also like to pop across to Addicted to Stamps and More where it's an Anything Goes week.




As always there's plenty more super CAS creations by my fellow teamies, with links to their blogs on the AAA Cards blog HERE

We are also joined by Deidre of Eyes Wide Open Arts, a previous winner of our challenges, who is Guest Designing for this one. Do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word and some love - I'm sure she'll appreciate it.

Thanks for calling by my blog today and I hope you feel inspired to play along with us!



Sarah

Saturday 13 May 2017

Less is More #328

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More - it's the one you all LOVE and DREAD in equal measures. Yep it's ONE layer week and our theme is Spots and Stripes.



We did have a half-way house challenge like this a few weeks ago featuring stripes so it SHOULD be easy enough to add the spots??? Not for me as I've had a hectic week and no mojo - in fact I think I left it in Port Sunlight! I did make a few buys in between the busy spells. Amongst my little haul and quite out of character for me, I grabbed an animal cutie set by My Favorite Things - Giraffing Me Crazy. It wasn't until I got home that I thought it might work for today's challenge so here it is ...


Two super-cute giraffes, coloured with promarkers, masked, then sat upon a diagonal striped stamp from Clearly besotted with hand-drawn lines top and bottom. The sentiment is also from the set and as is the case with MFT there's plenty of fun and appropriate sentiments in the set.

It's a 'Going Dotty' challenge over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge this week so I'd like to pop these 2 cute giraffes in over there as well as Addicted to Stamps and More where they're having an Anything Goes week. 


This is a little sneaky BUT I couldn't resist sharing another new set (to me). This time Clearly Besotted, which has thankfully re-opened the shop. This Butterfly set went out of stock just before their temporay shutters came down and I was so upset that I couldn't get hold of it. As luck would have it ... there it was in the shop when they re-opened a few weeks ago! What's more it features ever such a delicate spot and stripe design! I've used the same Diagonal Stripe stamp again here with Altenew inks and a sentiment also by CBS: Brushed Greetings II.


Last but not least and in honour of this month's sponsor Uniko I've used the brand new Horizontal Stripe Background block with some circle stamps from various sets: Uniko Style and Balloon Bash. All stamped with Altenew inks and a bold embossed sentiment on top from My Favorite Things.


It's over to you now folks but don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE 

Hope you'll play along and have some fun and thanks for calling by!

I'll be back soon!


Sarah

Sunday 7 May 2017

Honey I Shrunk The Kit #11

Hi blog friends, I'm thrilled to be sharing another day out with my fellow Honey Babes for our latest HISTK post and it was Shona's turn to 'host' the kit, which she's called .........

Honey I Shrunk the Kit logo

Here's the line up of Honey Babes followed by the picture of Shona's goody bag!

Hazel Hodgkins: Hazel's Paper Designs
Sarah Gray: Funky Fossil Designs
Shona Chambers: Twine Around
Anita Bowden: Neet & Crafty
Sarah Platt: Sazzle Dazzle Crafts ... that's ME!


Here's a picture of Shona's kit and a list of contents:

Neat and TangledSequins, Big Hugs die-cut, Awesome die-cuts, Awesome Stamp set
Winnie and WalterFriend die-cut
My Favourite ThingsHugs die-cut, Cool Cat stamp set, Beast Friends stamp set, Otterly Love You stamp set
Studio KatiaStitched Creative Nested Squares die-cut 
Pretty Pink PoshStitched Rectangle die-cut, Stitched 3-window die-cut


Although I wasn't entirely sure where to go with the kit or what colour scheme to use I thoroughly enjoy playing with these gorgeous images and die-cuts. In the end I went with the colours of the sequins in the kit and tried to colour, not so successfully (particularly the otters) along these lines too so here goes. 



I used a few additional items for this one: Stencils by My Favourite Things - Scallops and Concentric circles which were both inked through with distress inks and the frame die is by Paper Smooches. The images and sentiment strip are coloured with Promarkers.          
                     

For this one I dry embossed the card base with a We R Memory Keepers next level embossing folder with a basket weave texture, coloured the die-cut friend sentiment and the images with Promarkers and mounted them onto a die-cut panel from WPlus9: Sunshine Layers dies


There was no need to use any additional items on this one. I merely coloured the images and the inner squares from the filmstrip die with Promarkers as well as the BG to the Awesome die cut sentiment.



I have to admit that I messed up the colouring of the 'heart-style' yeti but his face and head survived!!! I created a little wintery scene with a purple sky (as if!!!) blended with Wilted Violet distress inks and some landscape dies from Mama Elephant. The heart frame is from WPlus9.


And just enough to make this one which I was determined to make into a Christmas card with the twinkly fairy lights around this little beastie's neck BUT I couldn't resist the Big Hugs die cut sentiment which is coloured with Promarkers and all mounted on a scalloped panel from the WPlus9 Sunshine layers dies.


Thanks for another perfect pack of goodies Shona, I've had a brilliant time playing with these cuties; it was like receiving 3 whole new stamp sets that I'd never imagined owning. I can't wait to see what you and the rest of the playmates have created with the kit!  

Thanks for your visit and catch up soon.




Saturday 6 May 2017

Uniko - Reveal, Release & GIVEAWAY May 2017


Hi there and thanks for visiting me again today!

So you've had the Sneaky Peeks and Introductions and now we have the BIG Reveal, Release and GIVEAWAY of this month's new stamp sets from Uniko

Here's my cards showcasing these fabulous sets and they are now available in the shop HERE and waiting for you to buy!


This one is similar to my previous card using Happy Succulent in rainbow colours but here I've used the Kuretake Gansai water colours to create a deeper and more dramatic colour way! 


... and another one featuring the Happy Succulent set, this time watercoloured using Distress Inks


Here the Doodle Flower block background is watercoloured with Kuretake Zig Clear Brush markers. A popped up, fuzzy cut, embossed sentiment from the All Occasion Sentiments #1 set finishes this one.



I hope you've enjoyed the inspiration this week and are full of ideas of how to use these new goodies. 

All that's left for me to do is set you off on the traditional Design Team Blog Hop and wish you luck. 

The details are on the Uniko blog HERE so if you get lost along the way just head back there.

Sarah P - that's me!


Thanks for stopping by and I hope you like what you've seen these last few days and here's the FULL images of the sets we've been showcasing!

   

   



Less is More #327

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More?
Hopefully you've already visited the Less is More blog so you'll be up to speed on all the developments but just in case here's a brief summary ...

Last week we said our 'cheerios' to fellow teamie Jen as she stepped down from the team BUT we are delighted to reveal not ONE but THREE new Designers to our team. They're Izzy, Nonni and Trina and I hope you'll pop along to their blogs and leave a HUGE welcome. You're bound to feel inspired too by all their fantastic card designs and techniques. 





Onto this week's COLOUR challenge and we'd like to see YELLOW GREY in any shade or tone. This week's colours were chosen by fellow teamie; Anita who is celebrating her birthday this weekend. Happy Birthday Neets and hope it's fabulous in every way!
It's also the start of a new month and we're delighted to have Uniko back as our sponsor for this month of challenges. There's a whole new release of Uniko stamps on offer at 9am today and Bev (owner) is our super talented Guest Designer for this one so do pop along HERE to see what's in store and drool over all the inspiration. 

Uniko

I've been given permission to showcase a couple of the sets early in my cards but there'll be more here on the blog a little later and if you happen to be in the Port Sunlight area today for the Happy Stampers Festival then please stop by the Uniko stand for a chat as I'll be helping Bev alongside some of the other Uniko DT.
here's my cards ...


this one features 2 of the new Uniko sets: Pure Florals - Lily and Block Background Horizontal Stripe. The Lily is embossed onto water colour card then watercoloured using Distress inks with a little extra details using coloured pencils. The sentiments are also from this gorgeous set.



Next up another new Block Background set from Uniko - Doodle Flower and a sentiment from the All Occasions Sentiments #3 set. The flowers are coloured using promarkers then I sliced the panel in two using a basic stitched border die from MFT Die-namics with the sentiment popped up on a die-cut heart (also coloured in the same promarker) by WPlus9.


Don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and if you'd like to see more from the new Uniko sets then pop back at 9am! Hopefully Mr Blogger will be on time!


Hope you'll play along and have some fun and thanks for calling by - I'll be back soon!

Have a great weekend!



Friday 5 May 2017

Uniko - Introducing Pure Florals: Lily

Hello there friends it's time for the final introductions for this month's release over at Uniko and I hope you've enjoyed what you've seen so far!

If you are a regular follower of Uniko you'll have an idea of what's in store for you today as we introduce the Pure Florals: Lily set. I think my favourite of the Pure Florals range has to be the Gerbera but I'm simply loving this one too and it's a great addition to the range. Lilys have to be my favourite bloom EVER - it's just a pity they make me sneeze so badly if I keep them in a vase inside. 



I wanted to focus on the lily head for this card so kept the rest of the stamping in monochrome. The flower head is embossed and watercoloured using Distress Inks. The sentiment is also from the set which includes several others in this large curly font with coordinating ones in a basic type font. 

This week's challenge over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday is 'A Touch of Pink' so I'd like to head over there with this one! 

Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog Logo


This next one includes the horizontal stripe background block, introduced earlier this week plus some masking, fuzzy cutting and water-colouring with Distress Inks.



Ok that completes the sneaky peeks and introductions for the week and tomorrow is the BIG REVEAL, RELEASE and BLOG HOP HERE so I hope you'll join me again then as we show you the sets in their entirety and you'll be able to purchase them both online at Uniko and at the Happy Stampers Festival in Port Sunlight tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back tomorrow