Sew it goes

Wow, what a lot of gorgeous entries we had for our Stamp and Die challenge last month at Stamping Sensations There were some stunning projects and it was certainly hard to choose a winner. However, it's on to September, and this month we'd like to see your creations on a sewing theme, as our topic is

###  SEW SPECIAL   ###

This could include real or faux sewing, sewing related images or embellishments, but it is your choice as to how you interpret the theme. However, please do remember that we are a stamping challenge, so your entry must include a stamped image, sentiment or quote as the focal element of your project, otherwise it will not be eligible for the prize or top 3.

We have not one, but two fabulous prizes this month! The overall winner will receive a fantastic £35 voucher generously donated by Stamp Addicts, our September sponsors, and the second prize will be a ticket for two people to the November Hobbycrafts show at the NEC.

I just happened to have a pad of sewing themed papers, which was a magazine freebie, and I used one of the sheets as the basis of my card.

The stamp is an oldie by Hero Arts (sadly, I think, no longer available). I stamped it with Elderberry Memento ink and just lightly coloured the dresses with pencils. A few buttons, a couple of fabric scraps and a scissor charm to embellish and a sentiment by Rubber Stamp Tapestry completed the picture.

The Design Team once again have come up with some superb samples. You'll find them here on the Stamping Sensations Challenge Blog, and do have a look at them if you are in need of inspiration. I think this will be a very popular topic, and I'm looking forward to seeing lots of entries!

A little Inspiration

I loved looking at all the gorgeous entries for the Take Flight theme, but it's now September already, which means it's time for a new challenge at Stampalot, and this month we have some

Photo Inspiration

Your creation can be anything you like as long as it is inspired by the photo. It would also be helpful to us if you could say in what way the photo inspired you.

Here's the photo

And here's the fab prize which you could win, generously donated as usual by Sir and Lady Stampalot!

For my card, I took inspiration from the woman and child, and the flowers they are holding. I used a picture from a Crafty Individuals book, mounted onto a Nestie frame which was stamped with Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps, to echo the design on the background paper, which was a freebie from Quick Cards Made Easy magazine. I made some lace into a flower and topped it with a floral button. The sentiment is by Waltzing Mouse.

Do pop over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at what my lovely teamies have created. I think they've really excelled themselves this month. I look forward to seeing lots of entries, and good luck everyone!

Sir Stampalot September Challenge

We're back to a set theme for this month's Stampalot Challenge, and it is

It's A Frame Up

We want to see a frame somewhere on each project! Plenty of scope there, I think. Just make sure that your frame is an actual "feature" of the design, rather than simply matted layers. For my example, I took inspiration from an article by Emy Buxton in the July 2011 issue of Craft Stamper magazine, where she used stamping and masking to create a frame for a scrapbook page.

I made my frame by masking off a rectangle of the base card and stamping round the edge of the mask with tiny stamps by Rubber Stamp Tapestry, using VersaMagic inks. The picture inside the frame is from the Miniatures book "People & Places 2" by Crafty Individuals, and the card is completed with a sentiment by Darkroom Door. Quick and simple to make, but I love the effect of the floral frame.

Here's the delectable prize donated by Sir Stampalot this month! Check out those gorgeous ribbons! Some fab stamps too, and lots of other goodies, so get those entries in!

And on the subject of Sir S,  HOT news! Watch out for a new weekly feature that Sir Stampalot are promoting, starting tomorrow. It’ll be called ‘Freebie Friday’ and it’ll be sent to you via their email newsletter so if you haven’t already signed up, you’ll need to sign up before end of day today, here. 

Or use the “stay in touch… sign up to smudges” icon on the home page of their website (left hand column).

I started the new job this week. So far so good! Quite different from my previous one, in that I flit from school to school (9 schools in two days!) instead of being in one school for the whole day, but I have certainly enjoyed my first two days. And it's lovely to be able to drive to work through beautiful countryside. Bit of a hold up yesterday morning when I met the school bus which serves several local village schools coming towards me on a narrow country lane, and had to reverse so he could get past. One or two slow tractors as well, but I can cope with things like that! So much better than being stuck in traffic jams going into the city.

Went to have another look at our new house the other day. I'll leave you for now with a photo of the view from the window of what will be my new craft room! If it looks that good in the rain, imagine what it's like when it's sunny with blue skies! I can't wait until we can move in!

WOW!!!

What a day! On Friday we decided to have a last day out before I go back to school this week, and as we were heading up the motorway on the way to Robin Hood's Bay I got a text from Sally. It said "You've won the Cuttlebug from the Once Upon A Stamp Design Team Blog!" Well, I had to read it about six times before it sank in. Then I thought, no, it can't be me. Must be a different Lynne K. So I rang Sally, and she said "It's true! No other Lynne K entered the competition. I checked." Woo hoo!!! Now this sort of thing never happens to me, at least it never has until now. I've won the odd raffle prize occasionally, and even 2 sets of  Elusive Images stamps, which was fantastic, but never anything like this. To say I was excited would be like saying the Titanic had a little prang with an iceberg - ie. understatement of the year! How I managed to contain myself for the rest of the day, I'll never know.

We had a lovely time at RHB. The weather was beautiful. We had fish'n'chips, a stroll along the beach, looked in the rock pools, found a few fossils, and enjoyed the fresh sea air.

Then we called on my sister-in-law who lives near Whitby. Home via the North York Moors with all the heather out. It was quite late when we got back, but I had to get the laptop out & see for myself - yes, it was true! I had won the Cuttlebug, along with the new "No More Shims" mat! First thing on Saturday morning I phoned Once Upon A Stamp, as requested, and arranged that, since I'm only half an hour from the shop, I could go up and collect it. Sally came with me.

I'd heard about the No More Shims Embossing Mat, but didn't know all that it can do. It was invented by Gordon himself, and he kindly gave us a demo of its capabilities. I am highly impressed with it. Not only can you emboss through the CB without having to faff about with fiddly extra bits of card (and you get a better result), you can also emboss found objects as long as they are no thicker than a 10p piece. Magic! I tried some real leaves and they came out beautifully. So I made a gift bag to put them on.

The bag is made from an envelope, and it's very quick and easy to do. See the video by Lisa Spangler on the Hero Arts website. The definition on the leaves is amazing. All the veins stand out, even the tiny ones. (Click to get the big picture and see them!) Having embossed them onto plain photocopying paper, as Gordon suggested, I cut them out and then sponged over them with various colours of pigment inks. I thought that doing so might squash them, being on thin paper, but the detail held very well. Then I matted them on to coloured card. The bag is stamped with Hero Arts stamps.

Next I tried embossing some mulberry paper which has a raised embossed pattern on it. Again, it worked really well. I decided to use the one with the flowery pattern and made a card with it, having coloured it with pigment inks to make the detail stand out.

I kept the card simple so as not to hide the background, and just added a Crafty Individuals picture, a flourish (a Marianne Design die) and a Nestabilities label. (Sentiment - Papermania, tiny flower - Rubber Stamp Tapestry).

I've been a big fan of the Cuttlebug for a long time and wouldn't be without it, but have always wondered why they couldn't come up with something better than fiddly bits of card for embossing. Well, Gordon certainly has - and it's brilliant!

I want to say a HUGE thank you to Gordon, Robert and all the team at Once Upon A Stamp for such a wonderfully generous prize. Oh, and it all came in a fab tote bag, also part of the prize. While I was at the shop I bought a Scor-Pal ......... but that's another story!

Butterflies 2

As I said in my previous post, the dearth of butterflies in our garden has prompted me to put some on my cards instead.


A fairly simple one to begin with. I didn't want too much to detract from the main image, which is an old Penny Black stamp from 1999, but still one of my favourites. I coloured it with Promarkers (my first attempt with them!)


This one uses an Inkadinkadoo stamp. The butterfly is diecut & mounted with the Cuttlebug, with my Martha Stewart punch for the borders.


Next a set of four Hero Arts patterned butterflies, stamped over My Mind's Eye papers.



Another criss-cross card, using papers from the Butterfly Bliss CD from Graphicus. The stamps are Elusive Images, also from Graphicus, except for the sentiment which is by Rubber Stamp Tapestry. The white butterfly, which appears when the insert is removed, is punched.


Finally, a mini landscape card. I cut a square mask, along with a few butterflies, and then sponged over them with pigment inks to make a background, adding the stamped images (Elusive Images) after removing the butterflies but before removing the square. The result was then cut out and embossed on the Cuttlebug, before being mounted on to a card stamped with more Elusive Images (from the Wild Meadow set). Of the five, I think this is my favourite. I may not have many butterflies in my garden these days, but they'll never be far away from my cards!

Butterflies

Some more Nestabilities/Cuttlebug cards.

For the first one, I used the Nestabilities to cut the two frames, then cut the butterfly out of the smaller one & embossed it with the Cuttlebug dots folder. The stamps in the background are from one of the new sets in the Crafty Elements range from Crafty Individuals. Both the flowers set and the butterflies set are must-haves.



The second card has a Cuttlebug embossed background and butterfly motif, and the flowers around the motif are from Rubber Stamp Tapestry. The "butterfly" word is from the new Crafty Individuals butterflies plate.



I found lots of inspiration for both the Cuttlebug and Nestabilities here at Sue Nelson's Heart Prints website, where she displays many beautiful cards and ideas, well worth a look.