*My Favourite Instagram Hop*

 This week on the My Favourite Instagram Hop, we are each playing with our favourite stencil.

I'm not sure that I have a favourite stencil, but how could I resist playing with these beautiful snowflakes!  This is a Taylored Expressions Create In Quads stencil... a multi-layer stencil that you use on a full sheet of cardstock to create several different panels.  What a great idea!

Card Info

*Stamps:  The Ton Easy Expressions Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Catherine Pooler Black Jack Skylight, Samba

*Stencil:  Taylored Expressions Create in Quads Snowflake

*Etc:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste Moonstone

*Tools:  Perfect Layers

*Sending Sunshine Instagram Hop*

 Each month, a group of us post cards to Instagram that are meant to be uplifting or encouraging to others... this is the Sending Sunshine Instagram Hop.

As it's so close to Christmas, I decided to do mine as a Christmas card... a little thinking of you. 

Sadly, my idea didn't come off quite as I had hoped as all of my pastes were mostly dried up!  I was able to salvage just enough of the glitter paste for this card...

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp Christmas Blessings

*Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Christmas Blessings

*Stencil:  unknown
*Etc:  Nuvo Glimmer Pasted Moonstone

*CAS on Friday #282*

 It's time for a new challenge at CAS on Friday... and our theme for challenge #282 is Sunshine!  Have fun with the theme, but don't forget to make it clean and simple!

I had a different card made for this challenge, but then decided that it wasn't clean and simple enough... so I took the same idea and made this card instead.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' up! Mango Melody

*Images:  The Ton Easy Expressions

*Ink:  Catherine Pooler Chiffon; Versfine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  The Ton Easy Expressions; Waffle Flower Nesting Rectangles

*Stencil:  Picket Fence Studio Sunburst

*Embellishments:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste Moonstone

*Tools:  Perfect Layers

*Challanges:  CAS on Friday #282

*Christmas Craft Creations November*

There is still time to play along with the November challenge at Christmas Craft Creations...  the challenge for this month is "add a hat".

I went through all of my Christmas images and dies to find anything that had a hate and decided to use this cute little gnome.  I added some sparkly snow behind him with a stencil and some stencil paste.  I like the black accents to tie it all together

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Images:  Photoplay Gnome for the Holidays Christmas; The Ton Easy Expressions Holiday
*Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Copics

*Stencil:  MFT Snowfall

*Dies:  MFT Stitched Rectangles; Photoplay Gnome for the Holidays Christmas; The Ton Easy Expressions Holiday

*Etc:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste Moonstone; Frosted Lace Stickles

*AAACards #234*

The team at AAACards is playing with Circles for this challenge... and we hope you will too!  I can't wait to see what you come up with!

I decided to play with a stencil I have in my stash...  and I added some shimmer to it too!

Card Info

*Images:  Pink Fresh Studio Happy Birthday Sentiments

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Tim Holtz Salty Ocean and Twisted Citron

*Stencils:  A Colorful Life Merry Circles

*Embellishments:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste Moonstone; Studio Katia Sparkling Crystals

*Challenges:  AAACards #234

I even created a video with how I made this card...

*AAACards #228*

Happy Sunday my creative friends... it's time for a new challenge with AAA Cards... it's a clean and simple challenge with the requirement being that your design is "along the edge"... the optional twist is to use a rainbow.

Of course, you are all well aware that I am deep in to Christmas card creating (my favourite cards to make!) so I decided to make a rainbow Christmas card!  A little untraditional, but why not?!

I started out by taping off just the edge of my card front and ink blending my rainbow through my snowflake stencil....  I kept the stencil in place and added some Glimmer Paste to make it sparkle.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Granny Apple Green

*Images:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Tim Holtz Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Twisted Citron, Salty Ocean

*Dies:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips, Simple Strips Backer

*Stencil:  Simon Says Stamp Scattered Snowflakes

*Embellishments:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste Moonstone

*Challenges:  AAACards #228

I hope you'll check out the blog to see what the rest of the design team came up with... and of course share your "along the edge" cards with us as well!

*Less is More #476*

It's time for a new challenge at Less is More...  for the next two weeks we want to see your creations using stencils!!  

I created a card a few weeks ago after doing the full Create in Quads stencils from Taylored Expressions and had three panels still waiting to be made in to cards.... so I picked the least "busy" of the three and created a card to share today.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Sweet Sorbet

*Images:  Simon Says Stamp Christmas Blessings

*Ink:  Catherine Pooler Black Jack, Skylight, Samba; Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Christmas Blessings

*Stencil:  Taylored Expressions Create in Quads Snowflake Layering Stencil

*Embellishments:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste Moonstone

*Tools:  Perfect Layers
*Etc:  foam adhesive

*Challenges:  Less is More #476, Falling for the Holidays Linky Party

*Time Out Challenges #221*

It's time for a new challenge at Time Out Challenges with a wonderful prize from Birch Press Designs to be won!!  I hope you'll play along, sharing your FESTIVE cards!!

I know that Festive can refer to a lot of different things, but to me, festive is Christmas... so I made a Christmas Card using a product I bought at the end of the season last year and hadn't yet played with.  This is one of the cards I made using the Create in Quads stencils from Taylored Expressions.  I used some different colours than I normally would and I love how it turned out!  For the last layer, I used some glimmer paste to make it look like little bits of snow falling.  To created my coloured mat, I just swiped ink along a piece of white cardstock so that it would match the colour of ink I stencilled with.

Card Info

*Images:  Mama Elephant Jingle Greetings

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne;  Catherine Pooler Black Jack, Skylight

*Dies:  MFT stitched circles

*Tools:  Perfect Layers

*Stencils:  Taylored Expressions Create in Quads Snowflake

*Tools:  Taylored Expressions Blending Brushes

*Etc:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste Moonstone

*Challenge: Time Out Challenges #221

*Addicted to CAS #227*

There's a new challenge at Addicted to CAS today... time to show us your clean and simple creations featuring the colour pink!

I don't know why but I struggled with this prompt....  but then I gabbed out some stencils and had a little play with them.  I stencilled the pink swirls first and then put a second stencil on top of the first stencil and used Glimmer Paste so that the sparkly circles only showed up on the pink swirls.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Sentiment:  computer generated and printed with a laser printer and foiled

*Ink:  Tim Holtz Picked Raspberry

*Stencils:  A Colorful Life Designs Big Swirls, Merry Dots

*Embellishments:  Moonstone Nuvo Glimmer Paste

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Challenges:  Addicted to CAS #227

*Color Throwdown #699*

I love the inspiration photo from the current Color Throwdown challenge so I had to play along.  But then I was stumped as to what I wanted to do...  I do much better with sketch challenges than colour challenges I think!

I pulled out a stencil I haven't used yet and this is the result.  I was going to orient my card the other way however the glitter paste made a mess in one area under the stencil so I flipped the panel and covered it with my sentiment!

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise

*Images:  Studio Katia Birthday Greetings

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Tim Holtz Distress Ink Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet

*Dies:  Waffle Flower Additional Circles

*Stencil:  A Colorful Life Designs Notre Dame Swirl

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Embellilshments:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone

*Challenges:  Color Throwdown #699

*Embellishments: 

*CAS Colours & Sketches #467*

This will be my last post with CAS Colours & Sketches until my wrist heals enough to craft again.  My surgery on Friday went well and I'm in less pain than I was before surgery.  I have no idea when I'll be able to do things with the right hand again... I'm guessing I'll have some answers after my surgical follow up on the 2nd.

But for today, my card using the current sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches... I wanted to leave my background white but I just couldn't.

I used a stencil from Studio Katia and the Nuvo Glimmer Paste in moonstone to add a little something extra to the card... in doing so it's not quite as clean and simple as it should be.

*Less is More #460*

 I am beyond excited to share with you all that I have joined the creative team at Simply Less is More.  This is a fabulous clean and simple card challenge blog that I've played along with when I can over the last few years.  As you all know, I LOVE clean and simple cards and am excited to be sharing my work and helping others discover the creative goodness from the other designers!

I decided to jump right in with the first challenge available after I was invited to join the team... because we all know that I LOVE a bit of bling!  I was at my crafty desk when I got the email from Kylie and since I had some time, I put together a card right away.

Bling can be challenging with clean and simple cards since you need to limit it so as to not take away from that precious "white space".  But if you plan, you can use bling effectively in a clean and simple design.

Since this was *not* a one layer challenge, I did choose to create a panel to adhere to the front of my card.  To me, it just adds a bit of interest without taking away from the simplicity of the card.

Card Info

*Images:  Simon Says Stamp Warmest Wishes

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Stencil:  unknown... I threw out the packaging!

*Etc:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Silver Gem

*Challenges:  Less is More #460

I really hope that you'll go to see what the rest of the design team came up with for this challenge... and I hope you'll play along for your chance to win a prize and be featured as a guest designer in an upcoming challenge!  Click HERE to see what the rest of the design team did with the Bit of Bling theme!  Remember to check out their guidelines so that you are eligible for the prize!

*CAS Colours & Sketches #454*

If it's Tuesday, there must be a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches!  This week it's a clean and simple sketch challenge from Joanne.  We would love to see how you interpret this sketch!!  Please share your creation with us HERE!

My photo doesn't show the stencilling on the lower part of my front panel very well.  In real life it is awfully subtle unless the light hits the sparkle just right!

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Highland Heather, Granny Apply Green, Balmy Blue, Blushing Bride

*Images:  Studio Katia Birthday Greetings

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Stampin' Up! Pierced Blooms

*Stencil:  Studio Katia Confetti

*Embellishments:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone

*Tools:  Perfect Layers

*Challenges:  CAS Colours & Sketches #454

*CAS Colours & Sketches #452*

It's time for a sketch challenge with the team at CAS Colours and Sketches...  I hope you'll play along with us!

I chose to rotate the sketch to a tall card.  I used a stencil and some inks and glimmer paste to add a strip of interest down the centre of my card before adding a die cut sentiment to the front.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Ink:  Tim Holts Twisted Citron and Salty Ocean

*Dies:  MFT Celebrate

*Stencils:  Paper Rose Big Drops

*Embellishments  Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone

*Tools:  Taylored Expressions blending brushes

*Glittery Snowflake*

Happy Friday crafty friends....  so hard to believe that we're at the first weekend of December already.  In a few weeks we'll all be in the thick of Christmas Day!

I created two cards with one stencilled image with this card... I just love this Gina K stencil.  Instead of masking off the portion I wanted, I did ink blending on a larger panel and cut it in half when the Moonstone Nuvo Glimmer Paste was dry.  It is SO very shiny in real life!

*Addicted to CAS #211*

Addicted to CAS is celebrating it's 9th birthday this month... and so we chose the word COLOURFUL for the code word...  share with us your colourful clean and simple cards to be eligible to be chosen as a guest designer for an upcoming challenge!  

We want to thank all of YOU for playing along with us each month... it's so wonderful to see you all be inspired by these challenges!

I was deep in the Christmas card theme when I was working on my card for this challenge and while I don't often use a rainbow for a Christmas card, I saw an idea by Chari Moss and decided to try it for myself.

I took a snowflake stencil and did it first with some Distress Inks and then covered it with some Glimmer Paste to create my focal point.  A stitched die, some foam adhesive and a sentiment and voila!

Items Used

*Images:  Lawn Fawn Simply Winter Sentiments

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturn; Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Candied Apple, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Twisted Citron, Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet

*Stencil:  Lawn Fawn Snowflake Background Stencil

*Dies:  My Favorite Things Stitched Rectangle; Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners

*Tools:  Taylored Expressions Blending Brushes; palette knife

*Embellishments:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone

*Etc:  foam adhesive

*Challenges:  Addicted to CAS #211

*May Your Season Sparkle*

I pulled out some new to me stuff to create this card.... a new Lawn Fawn stencil and some silver Nuvo Glimmer Paste (I have only used the Moonstone before).  After the stencilled panel was dry I decided it was best to let it shine all on it's own instead of covering it up too much...

Items Used

*Carsdstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black; blue Stardream; matt silver

*Images:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Stencils:  Lawn Fawn Snowflake Background Stencil

*Etc:  Silver Gem Nuvo Glimmer Paste

*Tools:  Perfect Layers

*Challenges:  Happy Little Stampers November Stencils

*Stencilled Winter Wishes*

The last of the Happy Little Stampers challenges that I played along with in September... this is the anything goes Stencil Challenge.  I'm new there but I think some of the challenges might always be "anything goes"?  Maybe I'm wrong.

Anyway... I grabbed out my well loved Gina K Stellar Snowflake stencil and that wonderful Nuvo Glimmer Paste to create a Christmas card to share with you.

Items Used

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Creative Expressions Silver Pearl

*Images:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Christmas

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips, Simple Strips Backer

*Stenci:  Gina K Stellar Snowflake

*Etc:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone; foam adhesive

*Tools:  Perfect Layers

*Challenges:  Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge

*Addicted to CAS #200*

Happy Saturday crafty friends!  It's time for a new challenge with Addicted to CAS.  We are working with Sue's Code Word which is SUN.  We'd love for you to play along with us!  Submit your clean and simple creations HERE for your chance to be chosen as a Guest Designer in an upcoming challenge!

I don't have much to use but I do love this great sunburst stencil.  It's the one that has the sunburst in the corner so I altered things with some Post-It Tape to create the sunburst as the focal point.  I used two colours of Tim Holtz Distress Ink with the stencil as well as some Nuvo Glimmer Paste.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Images:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips

*Dies:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips, Simple Strips Backer

*Stencils:  Picket Fence Studios Starburst Stencil

*Embellishments:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone

*Etc:  Post-It Tape; foam adhesive

*Swinking*

Happy Friday!  I can't believe it's the end of May!  It doesn't help that in Calgary we've had the heat on until just the last couple of days.  I sure hope the warm weather sticks around as we move in to June!

I chose a word that isn't a word for my last Scrap 'n Stamp Canada Random Acts of Cardness post for May.... the word is "swink".  And what on earth is "swink"?  Well, I think my friend Ardyth coined the term...  it's the fun way to say "direct to paper".  You simple swipe your ink directly to your cardstock....  swipe+ink= swink!  It's a great way to throw together a quick and easy background.

If you know me, I love a good rainbow in my cards, so of course I swinked my inks to create a rainbow!

I started out with my card on a piece of scrap paper in front of me, angled so that I had a comfortable way to swipe the ink pad towards me.   I simply took my first Tim Holtz Distress ink cube (I started with Mustard Seed after finding the middle of my card front) and I swiped it along the side of the card towards me a few times, letting up the pressure as I moved along to create a whispy edge.  I overlapped my colours just a little but to ensure I didn't have any white spaces between colours.  I used Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Twisted Citron, and Peacock Feathers.

I set my card aside for a few minutes to let the inks dry completely.  I then used some Purple Tape to place a the Gina K Mandala Burst stencil over the left side of the card and I used a palette knife to spread Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone over the stencil.  I removed the stencil and set aside my card for about 20 minutes to let that Glimmer Paste really dry.  I stamped the Taylored Expressions Simple Strips stamp on white cardstock in Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and cut it out with the Taylored Expressions Simple Strips die.  I cut out the Simple Strips Backer die in white as well and "swinked" the Twisted Citron ink across it to create a backer for my sentiment.  I added it to the front of the card with some foam tape.