Addicted To CAS Our first challenge !!!! ” Code Word ” Snow

Such an exciting day today as our first ever challenge at Addicted to CAS goes live  I’m so excited !!!

This will be a fortnightly challenge and our CAS Perfectionist winner will be eligible for a super prize !

Each challenge will have a Code Word and our first one is ” Snow ” so lots of scope with this one.

We are so very grateful to be sponsored for this challenge by Joanna Munster of Inspired by Stamping who is offering a $20 gift voucher that can be used in her store . Do pop over and check out her fabulous blog , lots to see I can assure you

So what did I do for my first ever Cas card for Addicted to CAS………

well you can’t get more CAS that that now can you !!

I hope you like this cute little guy he certainly made me smile when I saw him ! The sentiment is from Paper Smoochies and the snowman is courtesy of my Cameo and I’ve just coloured his little carrot nose with Copics.

I do hope you can join us at our first ever challenge at Addicted to CAS and why not pop over and meet the new DT such a talented bunch of ladies . A big thank you to Kylie our lovely leader who had the good taste to pick me for her team lol,  and is one of the nicest people I have ” virtually” met , even if she is a bit of a nutter !

This is a scheduled post as I am in London and hope to be back in a few days so will catch up with you all then

Take care

Marie

Crafty Cardmakers November 12th ” Die Cuts and Punches “

Its time once again for a new challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and our host this time round is the lovely and talented Betty who is asking us to use die cuts or punches or a combination of both and here is what she has to say :-

You can have a combination such as 1 punch and 1  diecut as that equals two, or two punches, two diecuts. You can use more if you wish as long as there is at least two in combination or two of either on your creation.

We are sponsored by Hobby Art who are offering a fantastic prize please see Crafty Cardmakers for details

We are also sponsored by Milk Coffee Digital Stamps
with a prize of 5 Digital Stamps


Now I do love my die cuts but I kept it really simple and instead of going to my trusty Cameo I used my spellbinders nested heart dies , I used and old book and cut several layers of hearts in varying sizes. I sewed them together and coated them with Gesso and some chalk inks, added a little eyelet and some thread and attached them to the base which was embossed and the same inks and Gesso applied randomly

I do hope you will join us at Crafty Cardmakers and we look forward to seeing your creations, why not pop over and see what the fabulous DT have come up with to inspire and motivate us.

I may  be a little late visiting as I  am in London with my friend Dolly attending hospital while she undergoes chemotherapy but I do promise I will get round to you all as soon as I can

Take care

Marie

Addicted to CAS Giveaway !

Just popped in before I leave for london to let you know that the new challenge blog Addicted to CAS which I’m very fortunate to be a DT member of  is launching on the 17th of November and is having a HUGE give away  here are the details

Are you up for some prizes??
How about a little giveaway even before we start??

We are getting very excited here at Addicted to CAS. Have you noticed the countdown on the blog? Maybe that doesn’t help because to me the hours are dragging along!! LOL.

There are more ways than one to get yourself into the draw. Take advantage of all your options to increase your chances of winning!

Here are ways you can enter –
Add the Addicted to CAS badge to your blog (1 entry)
Follow our blog (1 entry)
Follow us on Facebook (1 entry)
Refer a friend (1 entry)
Leave us a comment on this post telling us how excited you are (1 entry)
Once you have added the badge to your blog you must link up to your blog using the link tool below.

If you have referred a friend AND they follow us, make sure your friend leaves on their comment who actually referred them! The easiest way to tell your friends would be to create an actual post on your blog telling everyone about this!

Want to know what you can win?

Approximately $150 worth!!!!

Here’s what you could win –

Stampin’ Up – 1 x Stampin’ Around Standard Handle
Stampin’ Up – 1 x Sweet Swirls standard wheel
Cricut Cartridge – 1 x Give a Hoot
Marvy – 24 x brushmarkers
Jo Sonja – Crackle medium
Inspired by Stamping – Halloween Tags stamp set
Assorted stickers and embellishments

The competition will go for the rest of this month

You have to be in it to win it!

 So why not pop over to Addicted to CAS and try your luck we would love to see you there

Take care ladies

Marie

Goodbye Addicted to Stamps and More and Hello Addicted to CAS !

Over at Addicted to Stamps and More its time for a new challenge and our theme this week is flowers a nice easy challenge I think you will agree. Sadly it will be my last as a DT member,  sniff , sniff , but do not fear I’m not going far ! The lovely Kylie owner of ATS&M has decided that one challenge blog is just not enough and the crazy but lovely lady has set up Addicted to CAS and has asked me to join the team !

This will be a fortnightly challenge and as its name suggests is strictly for the CAS card makers amongst  you we will also have some wonderful sponsors joining us so there will be prizes yippee !!!!

Our first challenge will go live on the 17th of November so do hope you can join us.

I’m really sad to be leaving this team as they are all such a wonderful group of talented ladies and we have all bonded so well but quite a few of them will be on the new DT so we can still keep in touch.

Right onto my card !

I embossed the frame with one of my Stampin up wheels and white embossing powder the frame had previously been coated with pink Pan Pastels. I raised it up with foam to give a little dimension and added a lovely piece of embossed card inside. The flower was made with a Sizzix bigs die and  coloured with Pan Pastels, the brad I made with my i-top brad maker.

I will be leaving in a few days time for London to look after my friend Dolly whom I’m sure some of you remember , as most of my time will be spent at hospital please forgive me if I’m late passing by. I would just like to thank Irini of Get Creative, Lin of Crafty Cardmakers and Kylie for being so understanding and allowing me to take a break from my DT obligations it’s very much appreciated.

I do hope you will come and play with us this week at Addicted to Stamps and More and it would be lovely to see you at Addicted to CAS on November 17th.

Take care

Marie

Get Creative November 5th Card Challenge and October Winner and Top Five

Hello lovely ladies this is a bit of a long post so if you don’t have a cuppa in your hand I suggest you go and get one !!!  Welcome to another challenge over at Get Creative but before I go any further I would just like to thank everyone that took part in our month-long card celebration in October. Each DT member and there are thirteen of us set our own challenge and chose one winner who will receive a prize offered by us. The response was amazing,  so many entries and I would just like to thank each and every one of you who took part in my CAS challenge. I was totally blown away by the quantity and quality of your creations, believe you me it was soooooo difficult to choose just one winner but rules are rules and my winner was Susan Martin with this gorgeous card

Susan your gift is on its way too you !

Here in no particular order are few cards that I really liked but where just pipped to the post

Vicky Hayes 

Gogo

Erina

Alexandra avc-creations

Back to Get Creative HQ and time for the November 5th card challenge and our lovely leader Irini is asking us to use a stamp we have never used before on our cards !!!! so much choice , I think I have more unused than used ! it took me days to decide but after much deliberating I finally chose this beauty by Darkroomdoor.

To be honest I wish I had chosen something simpler as I decided to use my copics and  we all know how much of a novice I am with them. I stamped the image at least a dozen times and then tried various colour combinations , all of them naff and destined for the bin. This was the best of a bad bunch so you can imagine what the others where like !!! After I finished colouring with the copics I gently added pink Pan Pastels to the image to soften the colours a little ( yes these colours are softened  !!)

Please pop over to Get Creative to see which stamps my fellow team members had languishing away untouched in their crafty stash and why not join in.

We have been sponsored by the gorgeous Natasha  who is offering this wonderful prize, you have until the 29th of the month to upload your card .

Right am off for a cuppa am exhausted don’t know about you !!!

Take care

Marie

Addicted to Stamps and More ” Bingo “

Lots of fabulous entries again last week for our Make your Mark challenge,  thank you all for making it so difficult for us at Addicted to Stamps and More to choose our winners ,this week it’s the turn of the bingo card so come and see what we have in store for you

I chose Orange, black and dies for mine and here it is

I’ve used spellbinders label dies to cut the black card and the orange leather and stamped onto it using this lovely Waltzingmouse stamp.Ranger archival ink works perfectly on leather and doesn’t smudge. Tim Holtz on the edge die embossed and spellbinders edgelets added to the side. A couple of pearls that I coloured with copics as I didn’t have black or orange in my stash. See I can make a card without using my Cameo !!!

Do pop over to Addicted to Stamps and More to see the amazing cards by the rest of crazy bunch I’m sure you will be inspired.

That’s all from me back to bed !! hopefully I will be able to catch up with you all within the next few days

Marie

Sorry for the shortness of this post but am a little under the weather and the medication makes me woozy and no it’s not gin !!!!!

CAS-ual Fridays ” Kraft On”

Unaccustomed as I am to posting on a Saturday night but a cancelled dinner date , ( just as well as I am on a diet and its nil by mouth in the Gin department ) has given me the opportunity to rustle up a card or two. While tootling along through blog land  I noticed that my lovely blogging friend Jenny from Crafting in the Country is saying farewell to CAS-ual Fridays and as I love this  inspirational bunch of ladies and their fabulous cards I thought I would join in.

We are asked to use Kraft paper on our cards this week and as if by magic and I kid you not I had one whole piece ( that is the extent of my Kraft stash ) sitting in front of me on my desk and I don’t know how it got there !!!! Seriously I don’t , it’s not mine !!!! Well it is now cos it’s on the front of my card !!! Finders keepers !!!!

I cut some hearts in various sizes with my spellbinders using pages from an old book, the one piece of  ” found ” Kraft paper and some red felt.

I first went mad making little holes all over the kraft paper heart and then sewed all of the layers down the centre of the card leaving the cotton a dangling ! The sentiment is by Paper Smoochies and it is from set that I won from Jenny a while back so its quite fitting really. I actually held my breath as I did the sewing as I very rarely use my machine for cards and was afraid it would go all wobbly,  lucky for me I actually got a near straight line , phew ! Having said that as soon as I took a photo I got a tiny blob of glue ( now where did that come from !! ) on the front of the card so it is destined for the bin, unless anyone knows of DAS ( dirty and simple ) challenges that are looking for mucky kraft cards !

Please pop over to CAS-ual Fridays and see what the amazingly talented DT have come up with to inspire us all and there are tons of fabulous entries too.

a couple of days ago I had a mini crop at my new crafting studio and invited a few lovely crafty friends to join me we had a fabulous time and it was so much fun even if I was worn out the next day ! Here are a few piccies….

Here are a few of the girls ‘ pretending ” to craft

Katerina striking a pose !

The lovely Olga doing her thing on the Cameo !

Thanks to Gogo,Olga,Eleni,Irini,Dota and last but definitely not least Katerina for a fun-filled evening !

Take care

Marie

Addicted to Stamps and More ” Make your Mark ”

Time for another challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and More and this weeks theme is ” Make your Mark ” You are free to make a card of your choice as long as you use markers of some sort. As I have said before this is not my strong suit actually not sure if I have one , it’s always a tricky time when this challenge comes around and I tend to stay with something really easy as you will see with card.

I made the base with my Cameo of course , seems I am definitely addicted to that ! The flower and butterfly set are by Hero Arts which was stamped with black archival ink and then coloured with Copics and lashings of glossy accents over the top for shine and definition.  There is also a lovely butterfly on the inside of the card  nice but not worth a photo lol !Now that I have acquired a cat at my craft studio I’m finding it difficult to keep anything sticky and gooey out of Ziggy’s reach,  I thought Bailey and Rosy where naughty but Ziggy can jump and climb and  reach things I thought I had put out of harms way. The only place I think anything can be really safe here is if I put it in the fridge !!!!

We would love to see your lovely ” colouring in ” at Addicted to Stamps and More and if you need a little inspiration why not pop over and see what the gorgeous ladies have created for your viewing pleasure.

Right am off to tidy up my little studio as I will be hosting a mini crop here tomorrow ( any excuse for a knees up ) so I really need to do a bit of mopping.

Take care

Marie

Get Creative October 17th Challenge ” Clean and Simple “

Yes me again just couldn’t stay away !!! This month over at Get Creative we are celebrating our second birthday and after the resounding success of last October’s month of card making we have decided that this will become a firm fixture on our calendar , that means that the thirteen team members will each be hosting their own challenges and they will also be responsible for choosing a winner and offering a lovely prize. You can enter as many times as you like as long as your card is for a specific challenge .

For my challenge I have chosen Clean and Simple  (CAS)  I seem to be stuck in that mode at the moment, to be honest I’ve been stuck in it for a while and am thoroughly enjoying it !

Your entry MUST be Clean and Simple. This means that clean and crisp lines, minimal or no embellishments and lots of ‘white’ space should be used.

 White space does not need to be ‘white’. It can be any colour. White space is a term used for the area of your card with no stamping, embellishments etc. So come and see what I made

I used this lovely stamp by Inkylicious with black archival ink and coloured the eye with a blue copics marker. I placed over the eye an oval beveled glass dome to give dimension. I had a bit of trouble with the lips as due to the intensity of the black ink every time I colured them red they just look very dark and I wanted something bright and luscious. I ruined loads of images untill I finally had a brain wave. I used glossy accents to go over the lips and when dry coloured over the top with red copics and got exactly the look I was going for. I created  a frame with my cameo to encase the eye and popped it if with some foam , the sentiment was computer generated. I really enjoyed making this card so made another using the same stamp but using yellow leather this time as a base

I really love the effect of stamping onto leather and this image was a joy to work with ,  for once I can actually say that I  really like how they turned out .
We would love to see you over at Get Creative and if CAS is not your style then there will be twelve other themes to choose from and each one has a gorgeous prize , which reminds me nearly forgot to show you what the winner of my challenge will receive.

Graphics 45 12 x 12 Little Darlings Paper Pad, it’s absolutely jam-packed with beautiful retro pages , to be honest I wanted to keep it for myself !

You have until the 29th of the month to upload your card …….so on Get Creative

Marie

Addicted to Stamps and More Sketch Challenge

Hello lovely ladies hope you are all well and feeling crafty . Today your in boxes will be dinging twice with scheduled posts from me so no it’s not a mistake, sometimes the  various DT challenges collide and today is one of those days.

First up is our challenge at  Addicted to Stamps and More and we have a lovely sketch for you to follow this week,  come and have a peep

My lovely Cameo once again came to the rescue die cutting this beautiful black card, in fact this is an envelope,  instead of sealing it I opened it out and placed some yellow card stock in the centre. I made the coordinating flower once again with my Cameo and added this little heart that I made using my melt art pan and UTEE with a sprinkling of gold SU  embossing powder.

Another little Cameo creation with a little embossing and a birdie brad, not very sure about this one but I made it so I’m sharing it anyway !

Once again thank you all for your wonderful support at Addicted to Stamps and More,  it’s so lovely to see your creations each week. Why not nip over and see what my wonderful team mates have created this week to inspire you.

Look out for my second post later today

Take care

Marie