The challenge motivation worked :)

Remember how I was saying yesterday how I had been really struggling with getting motivation to sit down and get out my stamping supplies and get creating again with all the other distractions I have going on in life right now......

Well my plan to peruse my favourite challenge sites worked, and after a quick (well ok about 2 hour long lol) read on my fave blogs I ran off to my craft room and happily pulled out my new Hero Arts stamps and got stamping!!

My first card was inspired by the current Hero Arts challenge to create a card inspired by the 2011 Catalogue and to use the masking technique in a project. I was also inspired to use the butterfly stamp by the current Create challenge to use butterflies, and to use the silver embossing by the current Etsy Inspired challenge featuring the Etsy store Modern Bird where you can find some really lovely handcrafted silver jewelry.

The card was inspired by one of the cards on page 17 of the HA catalogue, using the Dictionary Greeting friend stamp and the large canvas stripes design block. I stamped the friend definition onto the card using Aged Mahogany Distress ink, and then masked it before inking the whole card front with Victorian Velvet and then stamping over it with the design block in Aged Mahogany. I made sure the ink was fully dry before embossing the butterfly, from a Martha Stewert set, using silver detail embossing powder. The card was actually a pinkish coloured card which I flipped inside out so there is the nice surprise of the colour pop inside.

My second card was also inspired by the Hero Arts Challenge. I loved the Large Blossom cling stamp the minute I saw it, and the card pictured on page 39 of the catalogue just sealed the deal!

I created another one layer card here (for some reason I thought that was part of the HA challenge lol, maybe that was last month and I missed it!!). First I embossed the Large Blossom onto the card with white poweder and then masked it before inking the entire card front with Scattered Straw. I then stamped the Large Canvas Stripe design block  using Wild Honey, off-centering it a little to put it at an angle on the card. I then coloured the flowers using peeled paint, scattered straw, wild honey and a little aged mahogany, applying the ink with Fantastix. The sentiment was stamped with black Stazon, and then finally I used my Crop-A-Dile to attach the brads at the corners of the Canvas Stripe block to make it look like a separate piece attached to the card.

Ok, I'm off to catch up on all my fave blogs and get commenting on the beautiful creations in the galleries :) Hope you have had a great day....!

Etsy Inspired Challenge card

I came across the Etsy Inspired Challenge Blog a few weeks ago via Virginia who is one of their very talented deisgners. Every week they choose a different Etsy store to use as inspiration and challenge followers to create a project inspired by the items in that store. This week they were inspired by Stilleto Heights, a store with very cool vintage collage pieces. I was particularly inspired by this piece in their store

I love the border on the left with the distressed looking green and black, and the vintage picture of the couple with script overlay. The old fashioned picture reminded me of some old photos we were recently given of Jason's great grandparents. No stocking and suspenders in these pics lol, but I love them for the style and colours in the photos. I decided to use my favourite of the family photos to make an anniversary card inspired by the above design. Here's what I came up with..

I printed the photo onto regular paper and then adhered it to a piece of cardstock. Then I black embossed the bottom piece onto a piece of cardstock using Hero Arts S5213 Dots and Flowers and inked over with Faded Jeans Distress Ink, rubbing Metallic Rub Ons on top. These were both adhered to a blue metallic look card. I punched a scallop edge on the bottom of a piece of vellum and attached it to the card using eyelets, and a little Glossy Accents along the bottom edge. I then stamped K5344 La Letter and a Martha Stewert butterfly stamp randomly onto the vellum using Pumice Stone Distress Ink. Finally I embossed the sentiment (from Hero Arts Everyday Sayings) in white at the bottom.

I really enjoyed making this card, and I think it's one of my favourites so far, what do you think?

Thanks for looking,

Lynsey x