Tic, Tac, Toe challenge #3

Another week has flown by and I'm just about in time to post my card for the Tic, Tac, Toe challenge #3.

 I've gone for the left hand column of blue, one layer, yellow.  I very rarely do one layer cards for fear of messing up with the stamping so this was another challenge I set myself.  I went with a very simple balloon stamp set from SU and ink in Tempting Turquoise,  Dapper Denim, Daffodil Delight and Wild Honey, with the sentiment in black and some hand drawn string.

Tic, Tac, Toe challenge #2

I needed to make a Father's Day card this evening and was able to use the Tic, Tac, Toe challenge #2 for inspiration.  I decided to go with one of the diagonal combinations of hexagon, gray and wood(grain) although it also fits the top line too of masculine, embossing(dry) and wood (grain).

I did have to break into a fresh sheet of grey cardstock as I didn't have any in the scraps box and I have actually finished it in time to enter the challenge this week.

Two for one

I've made three cards to fit two challenges.   Inky Chicks challenge is to use three different patterned papers and a sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches which was just perfect for using those three papers.

The papers as usual are from my scraps box with the addition of some stamps which I have saved from mail sent to me from overseas.  Two of the sentiments are from Unity Stamps and the other one is an SU sentiment.

Tic Tac Toe challenge #1

While blog hopping the other evening I came across a brand new challenge blog.  Normally I veer towards sketch challenges but this one is a fun Tic Tac Toe challenge. You can find the challenge here.  I decided to delve into my scraps again and use the top row which was stripes, circle and gold.  Two patterned papers one with diagonal stripes and another with spots/circles created the backdrop for the card.  I then used another couple of papers to stamp out the cupcakes from a retired SU stamp set.  The top of the cupcakes I used gold embossing powder and cut out with a co-ordinating punch.  The sentiments were also gold embossing.

I just missed out on actually entering it into their challenge but it was fun doing something slightly different.  Looking forward to seeing what the next one will be now.

Your Next Stamp challenge

It was because of the sketch on the Your Next Stamp challenge blog that yesterday evening was spent sorting out one of my boxes of scraps.  I was trying to find some paper and cardstock to use and couldn't initially put anything together but still wanted to do something constructive with my time, hence the tidy up.

This morning I was able to get up and look at those neat scraps and managed to put together two more cards to add to my collection.  Apart from the base card and a bit of bling some more of my scraps have been used up - maybe one day I won't need a scraps box lol.

Now I need to work on tidying up my other scrap box to help me whip up even more quick cards.

Tidy up those scraps

While I've been trying to use up the scraps to make the cards and tag this week there were still plenty of scraps left over in just one of my scrap boxes (yes I have more than one Chris).  I decided it was time to sort them out.  Now I know there are some people who can throw their scraps away without blinking an eye but for me its very difficult.  This is how the scraps looked early this evening.

After a lot of sorting through them I decided to cut  them into approximately 6 x 4,

7 1/2 x 1 1/2,  2 x 5 3/4 and 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 pieces.  This makes them workable sizes for me to still make cards, use as borders or as journalling blocks.  I also sorted out all the pieces of neutral cardstock which can be used either for stamping images or sentiments on.  I found quite a few cut aparts from my Graphic 45 papers which had been thrown in there too.  All those workable scraps are now neatly placed in two much smaller boxes.  I still have a couple of other scrap piles to sort but its a start.

Here's the pile to be thrown away.

Feeling quite proud of myself for letting so much go.

Tag Tuesday challenge

I thought I'd have a change from cards today and also play around with a set of NBUS stamps and my mixed media stash.  Tag Tuesday had a challenge to incorporate the theme ANIMALS into a tag.  I wanted to use an Altenew set of stamps that hadn't seen an ink pad and make a baby tag - this is definitely not a cute tag but it did get me playing with lots of different bits and pieces from my stash.

I cut a tag from a piece of card I'd kept for recycling and covered in white gesso before adding some spotted tissue paper that had come with one of the Artful Days goodies box I bought a while back. I then used one of my Stamploration stencils and some texture paste.  When this was dry the stencil was placed over the hearts and inked up in pink.  To tone down the white of the tissue paper I mixed some gesso with ink from a green ink pad.  The animals and sentiments were stamped and cut out and added to the tag before inking the edges of the tag.  It might not be my best ever work but it was fun playing with everything.

New die to play with

A recently acquired die was calling out to me to make some clean and simple cards to add to my collection this week.  I paired it up with some patterned paper and a few simple sentiments.

Farewell Mojo

Thankfully not my Mojo, but sadly this week is Mojo Mondays last sketch challenge.  After 500 sketches they have decided to call it a day.  I couldn't let the final challenge go by without using it to make another three cards from my scraps box.

Wishing all those that have been involved with the Mojo Monday challenge blog all the best in the future.

Sunday Stamps challenge

Time for a little play along with the sketch on the Sunday Stamps challenge blog.

The dies are from Stampin Up and the sentiments are from one of my favourite Clearly Besotted sets.  Papers and card from the scraps box.  Three different sentiments for different occasions. 

A quick thank you card

I managed to find some time to have a play with a new set of stamps and dies I recently bought from SU.  The set is called Lovely Inside & Out and co-ordinates with the Lovely Words die set.  The card was inspired by one of the cards in the new SU catalogue.

I also used one of the New In colours Lemon Lime Twist which is a lovely vibrant green just right for summer cards.