WOW!...Rainbows!...

Hello, hello!

I hope this finds you all well and that you all enjoyed Easter!  I have yet to eat any of my Easter eggs and for that I am proud of myself :)

So I'm here with my little bit of inspiration (hopefully!) for this months' WOW! Embossing Powder challenge - Rainbows!

For a change, I decided to keep it simple...imagine, right!?

I took the Sexi-Hexi background stamp and inked it up with embossing ink.  Then I took a rainbow of wonderful WOW! powders and sprinkled them over the wet ink.  

The best way, I've found, to stop the powders mixing as you start adding more and more colours is to ensure that you tap the excess off to the side of the page.  This prevents the colours mixing together, which is not so much of an issue on the card, but when you go to pour the excess back into the pot, it can cause a nasty surprise the next time you go to use your lovely Sunny Yellow and find large amounts of Apple Red in it!  Disaster!

Just to cause myself a bit of a headache, I opted for a white stripe.  After stamping, I masked this area off with printer paper before adding the rainbow of colours.  Once these had been applied, I then removed the mask and liberally covered the remaining area in Bright White Opaque embossing powder.  These powders are so well behaved that not a single speck of colour got underneath the mask and sullied the white area...I am always so impressed!

To finish, I embossed the sentiment in Metallic Silver on black cardstock and adhered it all tot he card front with some foam adhesive.

I love rainbow colours, the possibilities really are endless...I imagine I will create another rainbow inspired card before the challenge is up!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you find time to join in :)

WOW! Supplies
Primary Apple Red Powder
Opaque Primary Mandarin Powder
Opaque Primary Sunny Yellow Powder
Fluorescent Green Powder
Opaque Pastel Blue Powder
Primary Indigo Powder
Opaque Pastel Purple Powder
Metallic Silver Super Fine Powder
Opaque Bright White Super Fine Powder
Sexi-Hexi background stamp

Blog Hop Fun!!...

Hello, hello!

Today is a special day because it is the day that the WOW! Embossing Design Team join up with the Ruby Rock-It guys for a fabulous blog hop!

For anyone who is participating on the hop, you should have arrived here from Beckie's blog.  If not, then I certainly urge you to jump back to the beginning so you don't miss anyone out along the way!  There are beauties and prizes galore, so you won't want to miss out on any of the blogs!

All you need to do to be eligible for our prizes is to leave a comment on each designer's blog and then go back to our blog letting us know you have done so!  Comments will be closing on Friday 21st November at 23:59 PST.  N.B. - You may want to leave a note on both the WOW! and the Ruby Rock-It blogs to say you've been round to see us all as I believe that the prizes below are two separate prizes to be given away - I wouldn't want you guys missing out on the chance to win both!!  ;)

The prizes are...

WOW! Embossing Powder;

and Ruby Rock-It are giving this away...

Pretty cool wouldn't you agree?!!!

We had the pleasure of creating a project using our wonderful WOW! products alongside the beautiful Ruby Rock-It products.  Is anyone surprised that I made a card!?...

For this card I used the papers and twine from the Ruby Rock-It Country Cookin collection.  There are a brilliant mix of rustic style papers of all different kinds from chalkboard tags to these great patterns, which are the papers that particularly caught my eye.  Again...anyone who 'knows' me will not be surprised that these are the papers I was immediately drawn to!

To make this card I die cut the circle from a piece of kraft card and then heat embossed WOW's Sexi-Hexi background stamp using the amazing Clear Matt Dull powder.  I love this powder as when you heat it, it just seems like your average clear embossing powder, but as it cools you can actually watch the finish change from glossy to matte - maybe I'm too easily pleased, but I think it's great!

I placed the striped pattern paper directly onto the card front and adhered the kraft mat on top using foam adhesive to give a little dimension.  The sentiment panel was mounted on a gorgeous piece of the red plaid paper from the collection. The colours of all the papers tie together so well.  I wrapped a small amount of the Ruby Rock-It twine around the kraft card and my card was complete!

I'm not someone who uses patterned papers very often, but I have to admit that this collection was very inspiring and complemented the WOW! stamps and powders perfectly!

Now, you need to get yourselves over to Kaka's blog to find some more treasures there!

Thank you so much for stopping by, and good luck to you all for the prize draw!

Supplies
WOW! - Sexi Hexi background stamp; Clear Matt Dull embossing powder
Ruby Rock-It - Country Cookin collection - papers and twine

Anything goes...

Hello my lovelies!

I don't know if it's the same for you, but all of my friends seem to have birthdays in September/October/November - myself included - which means I should be ready for it each year, but invariably I'm not!  So I've been busy making birthday cards galore!!  This, at a time when I should be making a large dent in the Christmas card making list - oh well!

Here is one of the cards I've made recently;

It's a super simple card, but I quite like it!  A bit of emboss resist and a rainbow, loads of white space and a slightly sparkly sentiment - job done!

I have a leftover strip of the honeycomb rainbow - I'll have to put that to good use on something else soon :)

I did make this card for two challenges - one being STAMPlorations - Anything Goes, and the other was CAS(E)This Sketch #98, but as per usual, I missed the deadline!  The card was made, I just did not get the time for the photographs, posting etc...!  I enjoyed making it though, which is the whole reason we do this, right?!

This is just a short post today, maybe I'll get a chance to play along AND post some cards for challenges that are still live!!

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend guys, thanks as always for taking the time to stop by ;)

Supplies
Card:      Paper Mill Direct- White Super Smooth
Stamps:  WOW! - Sexi-Hexi; STAMPlorations - Celebrate
Ink:         VersaMark; Papermania - Red, Yellow; Distress Ink - Wild Honey, Broken China, Dusty
                     Concord; VersaColor - Green, Old Rose
Other:     WOW! - Black Glint Embossing Glitter, Bright White Opaque Super Fine Embossing Powder 

WOW! Mixed media - CAS Style...

Hello there!

How is everyone?  It's the weekend - yay!  I hope you all have wonderful plans and find a little time for crafting too :)

It is Mixed Media month over at WOW! Embossing Powder.  

Now, I'm not going to lie, the thought of mixed media fills me with fear so this was a true challenge!  The other girls on the team are mixed media queens and we all know I'm here for the CAS contribution!

I was surprised however, at how easily it all came together once I got going - so anyone else out there who thinks they can't 'do' the whole mixed media thing, give it a go, you may well surprise yourself :)

On to my card...

I know what you're thinking...not as 'mixed' as the other projects from the other Design Team members...I did warn you I was the CAS element of the team  :)

I started by blending the inks onto white cardstock and then attacked it with splashes of water which lifted the ink nicely.  Then I stamped the floral stamp from WOW!'s Collage stamp set along the bottom, trying not to be too precise about it as I wanted there to be some 'misses'.

Then I applied a strip of scrim.  I live in a builders household - myself and my other half have always worked in the construction industry, so there are always random building materials lying around my house!  I found this roll of plastering scrim a few months ago and until now I've only used it as a stencil and a stamp, I hadn't thought to actually apply it to my cards - there's a first time for everything!  I love to re-purpose and I'm pleased with how this looks.

I then applied embossing ink to the die cut words and very lightly sprinkled some Platinum Super Fine embossing powder over them so that the powder only stuck to a small, random portion of the wording.  I covered the rest with Black Glint embossing glitter which has created a nice mix of the two colours and finishes.

The die cut butterfly was heat embossed using Calypso embossing glitter and the body was again embossed using Black Glint embossing glitter.

So, there you have it - mixed media a la CAS style!

I hope you all find time to join us for our challenge and you enjoy the rest of the teams' projects!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Ta ta for now ;)

Supplies
Card:      Paper Mill Direct - White Super Smooth
Stamps: Collage Stamp Set
Ink:        Versamark, Versafine - Onyx; Distrees Inks - Broken China, Crushed Olive
Other:    WOW! - Black Glint Embossing Glitter, Calypso Embossing Glitter, Platinum Super Fine Embossing
                  Powder; Scrim tape; Britannia Dies - Happy Word Set, Birthday Word Set

Blog Hop Fun!!...

Hello, hello!!

Over at WOW! Embossing Powder this week we have a special event going on - a collaboration with 3L Scrapbook Adhesives.  Today is Day 2 - if you missed yesterday then you need to get over there and check out the talent!  Don't forget to pop back in each day this week to see all of the DT's projects :)

Here are my cards using a combination of 3L's awesome adhesives and WOW!'s wonderful powders - what a match...made in heaven!

For this first card I embossed the background using the Vintage Wallpaper stamp and Metallic Gold Rich powder. I then die cut the trefoil pieces for the 3L 3D Foam Creative Sheets and used Metallic Gold Rich and Metallic Copper powders to create the central embellishment.  It gives a really lovely effect - it's so tactile and full of texture - I don't know why I hadn't tried it sooner!

Here's a wee close up...

I also made this second card...

I don't think I will ever need to buy embellishments again!!  I was really pleased with how well the 3L Dodz took the heat embossing.  I have experimented with opaque and the more translucent powders - they both give a fantastic finish.  The opaque powders create a more matt finish, akin to enamel dots, whereas the translucent powders give a higher shine and you can still see through the dots partly, like glass beads - awesome!

ETA - Completely forgot to add that this card was made based on the CAS(E) This Sketch sketch!  Doh!  Well, I've remembered now, better late than never!  (seems to be a recurring theme lately?!)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  ;)

Supplies - Card One

3L Adhesives - 3D Creative Foam Sheet

WOW! - Vintage Wallpaper Stamp

WOW! - Express Yourself Stamps

WOW! - Metallic Rich Gold Powder

WOW! - Metallic Copper Powder

Spellbinders - Fleur-De-Lis Motifs, Parisian Motifs

Card - Paper Mill direct - White Super Smooth, Teal, Pale Turquoise

Ink - Versamark

Supplies - Card Two

3L Adhesives - Dodz

WOW! - Primary Apple Red Powder

WOW! - Opaque Primary Mandarin Powder

WOW! - Opaque Primary Sunny Yellow Powder

WOW! - Fluorescent Green Powder

WOW! - Opaque Pastel Blue Powder

WOW! - Earthtone Grape Powder 

Spellbinders - Classic Edges Two, Classic Decorative Inserts Three

Ink - Windsor & Newton - Black

Better late than never!...

Hey!!

OK, confession - I posted this on the WOW! Embossing Powder blog on the 8th October, but life has been so crazy mental that I haven't managed to get it onto my own blog until now - I know, slap on the wrist for me!

I am currently trying to arrange my own birthday celebrations (I think DOH should probably be doing it, but he's super busy too!) and work and help DOH with his business as that has exploded just recently - which is a good thing, but a time consuming one!  These are, I know, rubbish excuses, but that's just the way it is - sorry guys!  I have some time off so I am planning on visiting all my dear neglected blogging friends over the next week ;)

OK, onto the bit we're all interested in - cards!

The challenge this month is 'One Stamp, Different Ways'.  I don't know about you, but I can get stuck in a rut with my stamps - I seem to use them for the same thing all the time - background stamps for backgrounds etc.  I think this is a good one to combine with Darnell's ongoing mission to use NBUS! (Never Before Used Schtuff!)

I've used one of my favourite WOW! stamps - De-Vine.  I LOVE this stamp :)

My first card uses the stamp as a background;

I embossed the De-Vine stamp using Vintage Peacock powder on a pale turquoise card and attached this to the card base. I then cut openings in the white top layer and adhered it to the card base with foam adhesive to add a little dimension and a shadow gap between the embossing and the card front.  The sentiment was then embossed in Purple Orchid on tracing paper and mounted on lilac card.

My second card uses the emboss resist technique - one of my favourites!

For this card I embossed the De-Vine stamp in Bright White Opaque Super Fine powder and then cut out the banners.  Once I had blended the inks onto the banners, I sewed them onto the card front.  Next, I embossed the sentiments from the Collage stamp set in Black Glint embossing glitter.

My third card is a touch more feminine...for me anyway!

I embossed the De-Vine stamp in Calypso embossing glitter and mounted it onto a pale turquoise mat.  The butterfly was embossed onto tracing paper in Vintage Romance embossing glitter, which is gorgeously subtle but sparkly!  The sentiment, from the Express Yourself stamp set is embossed in Fluorescent Tickled Pink powder.

Given the time, I could've kept going on and on with the De-Vine stamp, it's super versatile! 

I hope you guys find the time to join us with this challenge - it may be the perfect opportunity to make the most of your WOW! stamps or show some love to those stamps that haven't seen the light of day for a while?!  Maybe grab some of your older stamps and see if you can't breathe a new lease of life into them - we look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Thanks so much for dropping in :)

WOW! Supplies
Stamps:    De-Vine Background Stamp
                Collage Stamp Set
                Express Yourself Stamp Set

Powders:  Black Glint Embossing Glitter
                Bright White Opaque Super Fine
                Primary Purple Orchid
                Calypso Embossing Glitter
                Vintage Peacock Embossing Glitter
                Vintage Romance Embossing Glitter
                Fluorescent Tickled Pink

Happy experimenting...

Get this - twice in two days!!

Hello people!

I'm here today with a card for CAS(E) This Sketch.  When I saw the sketch I thought it was really wide open to interpretation, but then what happened?  I sat down to make a card and would you believe...my mojo did a runner!!  How typical!  I had the whole of Saturday evening to myself to make cards and could I come up with anything - NO!!  I was beyond disappointed  :(

Then I stopped TRYING to make a card and just started experimenting and this is what happened...

I started by splodging some Distress Ink onto one of my acrylic blocks and then spritzing it with water and squishing it onto some card.  It didn't turn out quite how I thought but I'm happy with it!  

Then I wanted something else to go with it and I saw the roll of scrim on my desk and thought 'hmm?!' For those of you who don't know what scrim is (sorry if I'm being patronising!) it's the tape plasterers use to place over the joints between plasterboards before they skim.  It's like a sticky back nylon mesh.  I took a piece and stuck it to my acrylic block and then inked it with Versamark and stamped it onto the front of the card.  I was in a particularly impatient mood, so I had dried the Distress Ink smoosh with my heat gun already :)  I then heat embossed the scrim stamping with WOW! Ebony powder.  The sentiment is embossed in WOW! Black Glint, but you can't really see that in the photograph - sorry!

I like how my makeshift scrim stamp turned out!  And considering I had exactly ZERO mojo, I think this is OK  ;)

Again. last minute Larry is off to enter this into the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge before the deadline closes!

Thanks for stopping by ;)

Supplies
Card:      Paper Mill Direct - White, Black, Smooth Grey
Stamps: Stamping All Day - Art Deco Birthday
Ink:        Distress Ink - Broken China, Crushed Olive; VersaMark
Other:    WOW! - Ebony, Black Glint e/p; Scrim; rhinestones

Manly Men...

Hey hey!

I'm here today with one of two cards I made for my colleagues' boyfriends' 30th birthday.  I'll be back with the other one soon :)

I thought I'd have a go at the freestyle collage style that everyone else seems to pull of with such ease, but that evades me completely!!

I am quite proud of how this turned out, more for the fact that it's COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone as opposed to how it actually looks.  Although, it's kinda growing on me!?  I started with the WOW! hexagonal background stamp (you can just about see it in this photograph in pale blue) and it was askew - after I got over that I was off!  Then I went crazy with the 'stain' stamp and the arrows, added some texture with some dry embossing and heat embossed the sentiment.  I even stamped directly onto the card front which is usually something I try to avoid because once it's done, it's done!  I drew and fussy cut the '3' and the '0' and stuck those on with foam adhesive.  There's foam adhesive under the uppermost white layer and the grey layer - that's a lot of dimension!

This is another entry headed over to Catered Crop's 'Manly Men' Recipe Swap - I'm surprised to be entering more than once, masculine cards usually have me stumped!!

Thank you for stopping by ;)

Supplies
Card:      Paper Mill Direct - White, Smooth Grey, Buff
Stamps: STAMPlorations - Vignette: Chevrons & Arrows; Stamping All Day - Distressing stain;
                  WOW! - Sexi-Hexi
Ink:        Versacolor - Cyan, Lapis Lazuli; Distress Ink - Spiced Marmalade; Versamark
Other:    WOW! - Earthtone Blueberry e/p; Craft Concepts - Grunge Stripes

Bee happy on your birthday!...

Hi guys!

I'm here with a card for two challenges...I've been a busy bee today!

This card is for The Card Concept - colour theme, and CASology - 'Bee'.

Here is my card...

This card is for my DOH's son's birthday on the 13th of this month.  I didn't want to go too obvious with the 'bee' theme, just hint at it.  I guess the hexagons kinda give it away but I quite like how the 'trail' turned out :)  I hope it's masculine enough and he likes it!?

What do you think?  Clean and Graphic, or Clean and Simple - I can never decide?!!

Here are the challenges I'm entering them into...

You'll be pleased to know it's just a quick post this evening as I'm busy busy!  I hope you've all enjoyed your weekends and have a great week :)

Thanks for stopping by ;)

Supplies
Card:      Paper Mill Direct - White, Black, Smooth Grey, Daffodil
Stamps: WOW! - Sexi-Hexi; Stamping All Day - Deco Birthday
Ink:        Versamark
Other:    WOW! - Primary Lemon, Ebony; thread

Rainbow chevrons...

Hello boys and girls!

How are we all?  I for one am super tired - but in a good way!  This bank holiday weekend the weather has been unusually kind to us and we have indeed made the most of it :)  I have spent the weekend mostly outdoors scooting all over the county visiting places I've not been to before and of course, today's May Day Bike Rally in Hastings - it was fabulous!  Last year there were around 42,000 bikes and 79,000 people in attendance - I wouldn't be surprised if this year was on a par, it was awesome!

I hope you've all had wonderful weekends too...going to work tomorrow is going to be tough!  :)

Now for the card that I'm here for...it's a card I've made using the brilliant inspiration over at the Fusion Card Challenge blog.  I haven't played along with this one for ages, but I just had to find time to enter this time as it is too awesome to miss!

Here's my card...

Surprise, surprise guys...we have black, white and rainbows!!  I used both the inspiration image and the sketch (if not a slightly adapted version of the sketch) :)

I heat embossed each chevron 'strip' individually which took rather a lot longer than I was expecting, however it was worth it because I am pleased with the outcome :)  Add a few black chevrons cut from card and an embossed sentiment and Bob's your Uncle!  

Here is the inspiration...there's still a small window of opportunity to enter this challenge if you haven't already!!

I hope you all enjoy your week - I will be back soon, I promise!  :)

Thanks for stopping by ;)

Supplies
Card:    Paper Mill Direct - White, Black
Stamp: Gel-A-Tins - Chevron-Tastic; STAMPlorations - Chevron & Arrows
Ink:      VersaMark
Other:  WOW! - Ebony, Clear, Apple Red, Mandarin, Sunny Yellow, Green, Lagoon, Indigo,
               Pastel Purple

Happy Birthday girl!...

Hello there chaps and chapettes!

Today is my colleagues birthday - yipee!!  She started at work the same time as me a few weeks ago so we're fellow newbies ;)

Now, I know she LOVES owls...I mean LOVES owls.  Unfortunately for her I don't have anything owl-related, but I kept the animal theme and hopefully she'll like her card anyway :)

This card is for The Card Concept challenge #7 too, where the theme is - Butterfly.  I'm really not sure which category my card falls into this time>  Maybe Clean and Simple, maybe Clean and Layered, maybe even Clean and Graphic?!  Ok, so the graphic one might be pushing it a bit!

It's also kind of based on the CAS(E) This Sketch layout from last week (#70) - I really liked it!

I finally own a butterfly stamp!!  Woohoo!!  I got this one in the awesome set that came with the last issue of Get Stamping magazine - it's beautiful!!  I heat embossed it in WOW! Ebony powder and then used Distress Inks to blend the colours, I think they're kinda pretty ;)  I also used some new-to-me WOW! embossing powder for the sentiment - it's Calypso glitter powder and it is STUNNING!!  It has a lovely sparkle in real life and I'm loving it!!

So this is happy birthday to Jade, I hope you have a great day!!  :)


Thanks for stopping by y'all!  ;)

Supplies
Card:     Paper Mill Direct - Black, White
Stamps: Verve - Hope Blooms; Clear Impressions - Cherry Blossom
Ink:        VersaMark
Other:    WOW! - Ebony, Calypso Glitter e/p; Craft Concepts - Cottage Floral e/f; rhinestones

Birthday wishes...

Hello, hello!!

Tomorrow is my Dad's birthday and I've made him a card based on the fabulous layout at CAS(E) This Sketch this week.  I know I always say it, but those guys never cease to amaze me with the jaw-dropping, show-stopping sketches they come up with week after week!  I should be used to it by now, but they always wow me!  ;)

My Dad is a really plain/non-fussy kinda guy so I'm hoping this is simple enough for him.  I know it seems pretty simple, but that background pushed me out of my comfort zone a little bit!  It's a new-to-me WOW! background stamp called Sexi-Hexi and I inked up part of it in a random 'splodge' and embossed it using WOW! Platinum powder and then again in a more horizontal pattern using WOW! Silver Super Fine embossing powder.  The contrast between the silver and the platinum powders is subtle enough to not look too messy but still enough that it notices in real life :)  

The sentiment panels are there to give a bit of a pop of colour and the lime banner is popped up on foam adhesive to add a bit of interest and dimension, especially as there's no bling because it;s a boy card!

Here's the sketch...

Thanks so much for stopping by ;)  

I am hoping to get round and see you all this week as I'm working an early shift which should, in theory, give me a little bit more time of an evening this week - fingers crossed!!  :)

Supplies
Card:      Paper Mill Direct - White, Black, Ocean Blue, Lime
Stamps: WOW! - Sexi-Hexi; Stamping All Day - Art Deco Birthday
Ink:        VersaColor - Silver; Versamark
Other:    WOW! - Ebony, Platinum, Silver Super Fine e/p