Queen for a Day

Playing along this week with a couple awesome challenges to create the following offering  ... using a sketch inspired by Freshly Made Sketches, a Color palette from the Color Q and adding a Crown embellishment for over at the Just Add Ink to help celebrate their 100th birthday!

Reduce, reuse and recycle is the name of the game here by using the negative section of the Labels Collection Framelits to make a cool frame for the birthday sentiment.

 The Elementary Elegance stamp set is just divine and embossing it in silver makes it really elegant!

 I love the little Trinkets from the Simply Adorned line...

See what others created with this sketch here ....

Be inspired by Color over at the Color Q ...

And wish the ladies over at Just Add Ink a 100th Birthday over here ...

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Guest Designing - what an honour!

Over at the A La Card Monkey blog I have had the honor of being asked to be a guest designer showcasing this wonderful Holiday sketch that will go live tomorrow morning - so you get a little sneak peek tonight!

Here is my take on the sketch ... as you can see i opted for a holiday other than Christmas as all my Christmas cards are addressed and en-route to loved ones ... so I chose to get a head start of my Valentines cards! I just love this Little Friends stamp set from Stampin' Up ... perfect for just about any holiday!

Here is a close up to showcase my DIY glitter paper in the Tempting Turquoise color using versamark, heat and stick and fine glitter as well as adding a little bling to the little girls flower and sash for extra bling! 

The sentiment I chose here is from Petite Pairs and I added some Cottage Garden accents to my one piece of paper, the sentiment and my envelope.

Would also like to thank the ladies over at Just Add ink  and the Color Q for the Color inspiration on my card from their color challenge photos seen here - they were both so similar this week I could not choose which ones ... so I opted for Old Olive, Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise and Silver for the 'bead' representation.

Thank you to everyone who stops by to leave comments on my blog - I work from home running an Early Learning program with young children so being able to read adult offered comments during quiet time really makes my day!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Just Add Ink meets the Color Q

Well this week over at the Just Add Ink blog the challenge was to CASE (copy and share everywhere) something from the wonderful and amazingly talented Tania Gould ... just peruse her inspiring blog to see how easy a feat this will be for card bloggers to rise to this challenge! 

Her work is breath taking! I was particularly inspired by this card ... one of my favorite stamp sets combined with a Vintage look and bling - what more is there too love?

So after being inspired by some of her amazing designs and 3D flowers I decided I needed a color palette inspiration to avoid being tempted from just totally 'casing' her card colors and all ... so I headed over to another of my favorite blogs the Color Q , for some inspiration! 

Found this weeks color scheme of Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand and White and thought THAT IS JUST PERFECT!

So down to the craft room I went to create the following offering ... I created the distressed background paper by sponging with Night of Navy, Marina Mist and Bashful Blue and than stamping with the En Francis background - applying the Foxy Oxi technique and crumpling the paper while it was  still damp - always makes one cringe a little to crumple their hard work!

Once it was dry I distressed the edges and sponged with Night of Navy to darken them up again cause the Foxy Oxi removed quiet a bit of color on me. I than stamped the Cherish sentiment and the Baroque Motif image in Night of Navy and created a matching envelope so it does not arrive 'naked' to whomever gets this treasure.

I created the accent piece with my 2 1/2 inch scallop circle punch. I first stamped a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock with the En Francis stamp in Night of Navy and than punched out 6 scallop circles, sponged the edges with Night of Navy and spritzed with water and crumpled them to distress them. Opened the scallops and layered them on top of each other to create my flower and adhered them together with a vintage brad and spritzed the flower with Vanilla Shimmer mist.

 The leave accents are from the Bird Builder punch which were covered with Tombow and fine galaxy glitter in the Champagne color - this card really is stunning in real life with the dimension and shimmer and glitter ... very fun to make!

A huge thank you to the wonderful challenge blog creators out there who help to get my creative juices flowing - your hard work and inspiration truly is appreciated :)

Happy Stampin'

Margaret

Cardinal Bliss ...

Just loved this inspiration over at JUST add INK ... the minute I saw it a Bird Builder Punch Cardinal popped into my head flying over some Pine trees this time of year!

I also just loved this one over at Stampin' Royalty blog and wanted to play along with this one with visions of glittery paper coming to mind at the back and the above sketch incorporated into the circle on this one!

And well being that I am preparing for Christmas the traditional color inspiration over at Just Us Girls was still in my head ... 

And well here is my challenge inspired offering ... A Christmas Cardinal using the Bird Builder and the Lovely as a Tree Stamp set with some 'berries' from the Cupcake Builder and well BLING from our red and silver glitter paper and a sentiment from the Many Merry Messages to tie it all together!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Just Add Ink Color Q challenge

Combined the following three challenges to create my Masculine Fall cards for OWH this month ... just have to learn how to do my 'envelope tuck' and I can send out a bunch for the end of the month!

Click the photos to links to the awesome website challenges and to see other peoples inspirations from these sketches! 

And here are my offerings inspired by the above sketches ... I was inspired by the Just Add Ink photo to pull out my Lovely as a Tree Stamp set ... and the Color Q inkspiration of Black, Basic Grey, More Mustard (do not have Crushed Curry anymore as it is retired) and Tangerine Tango.

I am loving the new Peekaboo Frame die cause it is awesome for creating 'sentiments' on card bases ... for this card I used the Petite Pairs stamp set for the sentiment of I am here for you - no matter what! 

Note to self in future - sponge your sentiment inside before you glue it in otherwise the ink does not stick to the glue - however I like the 'marble look' it created  it looks better in real life!

 This is another offering using the same Inkspirations  but I changes up the layout a wee bit ... to be honest this was an accident card I tries to salvage ... as I accidentally cut one of my pieces wrong for the OWH sketch and wanted to savage of the brayer work I had done.

 I used the Jewellery Tag punch and the Tiny Tags to add a little hint of sentiment to the front ... and tied it all together with a Vintage brad and some black grosgrain ribbon!

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Stampin
Margaret