Another Time Out challenge

Hello all!
We're having another challenge over at Time Out but before we get into the new theme, I should mention that we have some new DT members joining the Time Out team which means some more fabulous blogs for you to check out!  You can find links to all the DT members here so please do grab a cup of tea or coffee, put your feet up and spend some time browsing:)
      You should also check out the wonderful creativeness of our Guest designer this week - Christine.
                  So onto the challenge which is a photo inspiration this fortnight -

    I used my Silhouette Cameo for my card and cut out the white thin tags after printing the words and then designed the background by adding a sentiment to be cut out and 2 thin white lines for balance.  A digitally designed CAS card!

Entering this into the challenges at Cardz 4 Guyz, Through the Craftroom Door and Divas by Design.

Thanks for stopping by!

       

Make It Crafty Facebook challenge

Hello all!
Back showing a card with a difference today - it's a 3D card in a box and it's for the current challenge over at the Make it Crafty Facebook group.  There are plenty of directions and tutorials out there on how to make this but I took the easy route and purchased the template from the Silhouette store - mainly because I liked the shaped edges of the box flaps!
    I coloured Pipi Petal Sprite from the MIC store using my Copics and chose to go for a very bright colour combo in hopes of fooling myself that Spring is here already!  Bit hard to believe when there's still snow around from early January :(    Anyway, I had used the Print and Cut feature on my Sihouette Cameo to cut out Pipi, leaving an edge around her and as this was going to be a 3D card, I cut another outline only (no printed image) so I could stick that to the back of the coloured image and you wouldn't see the bleed through from the Copics.   I also used my Cameo to cut the flower embellishments and the sentiment, making it a very Cameo-involved project!

    It's a little bit fiddly putting the box card together but the beauty of this design is that it folds relatively flat for posting as you can see in the next snap - 

                        Here's a view from above so you can see how the image and sentiment are attached to different inserts, giving the card depth - 

                     I would like to enter this into the challenges at 613 Avenue Create, Corrosive Challenges, Artistic Inspirations, Created with Love, Creative Cutting, Marker Pop, Simon Says Wednesday and Silhouette America.

        Finishing off with one more snap - a close up of Pipi.   Thanks for stopping by !

Oh Christmas Tree...

Hello all!
Back with a Pinterest related post today as most of the things I do these days seem to originate from there - how ever did I manage to waste time before Pinterest?
     Anyway, one of the good things resulting from this time wasting is that I am actually learning how to use my DSLR camera manually instead of relying on point and shoot all the time.  There are some great links on one of my Pinterest boards for photography related things here and one of them is how to tale some Christmas 'bokeh' shots.
   Here's a Wiki definition of that -   Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light" It's probably easier to show you what I mean - 

   Now, I'm not the best person to explain how to do this but you can find out how here.  It involves making a card template with a cut out shape to cover your lens -  I cut the tree shape using my Silhouette Cameo of course!  It works best if you focus on something in front of the tree or it can just look like you took an out of focus picture.

 
        As I didn't have any 'live' models available, I played around with some of our Christmas decorations.  It did help pass the time on a gloomy, cold day :)
            Linking up to Art is Beauty and Silhouette Blog.

   One final photo with a Christmas sentiment to you all!

Happy Holidays!

Keeping it simple for Christmas.

Hello all!
            just popping in with a smug "I've got my Christmas cards done" post!  Yep, I'm ready to mail them - they're done and dusted!!   To be fair, I really have pared down the style this year and for the majority of the cards, have avoided using my Copics and instead, used my trusty Silhouette Cameo.
I had seen some gorgeous tags here

and decided to make up my own little scene, using them as inspiration.


    I had a tree and house image in my Cameo library and I merged them onto a wavy slope line to make the top layer, adding some text to be cut as well.  For the coloured layer, I removed the text and slightly offset the shape, increasing the size by just under 0.25 inch.  You can find plenty of good tutorials online about offsetting  which will probably make more sense than my explanation!  I added the star and gem as a finishing touch, making up a dozen cards in about 30 minutes - super speedy!

        These are only 4 x 4 inch cards which will hopefully save on postage as well.  Last year, I made 6 x 6 inch cards with embellishments and spent a small fortune on postage to get them across the pond to the UK - won't make that mistake again.  I'm very pleased with these as they are still home-made cards but I didn't take hours and hours to do them.  Once again, the Cameo to the rescue!

    Joining in at -  abc Christmas , Sweet Stampin' Christmas , Crafting by Designs , Creative Moments and 

Homey oh my! .

Thanks for popping in :)

Surf's up!

Hello all!
     So the hubby and I have been joining creative forces and coming up with some T-shirt designs (more on that at a later date) and I had a lightbulb moment with one of the block designs, deciding to turn it into a cutting file for my Cameo!  I've been exploring the wonderful world of Silhouette Cameo quite a bit recently and after watching lots of the very helpful tutorial videos, I came up with this.........

      The background was done using Faber Castell Gelatos, which were feeling lost and abandoned at the bottom of a craft drawer!  I smooshed them around with some water and my fingers - very technical!.  The image was cut on plain black cardstock after I simplified some of fiddly bits - still not sure about the hibiscus flower on his shorts................

     I would like to enter this into the challenges at Tammy's Scrappin corner , The Crazy Challenge , Bearly Mine , Can You Digi It , Oldie but a Goodie and Through the Craftroom Door .

Thanks so much for popping in - I'd love to know what you think of this design :)

Typography art panel

Hello all!
So, I've had the Silhouette Cameo for a year now and I have to admit, I haven't really used it to it's full potential.  I've also been hoarding saving some hot pink glossy vinyl for several months so decided to make something special with that.  A friend back in the UK has recently had a little girl and I wanted to make a gift for her and as I love all the subway word art that's still very popular at the minute, I knew exactly what to do!
          I started off by painting an art wood panel with white acrylic paint and as that was drying, I typed out the words and birthdate, using the Silhouette programme.  I apologise for not being able to tell you what the fonts are but I never take notes on what I'm doing!  The Cameo cut the words for me and I transferred it to the dry wood panel using contact paper.

     Very cute :)   I'm wondering why I don't use my Cameo more as this was such a quick project to do!

            I would like to enter this into the challenges at Sparkle & Sprinkle ,  Use it Tuesday , Shopping our stash and linking up at Elizabeth & Co.

         I can also make customised versions of these which are available through my etsy shop - LilyPinkScraps.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Playing with vellum

Hello all!
           I know I've been a bit thin on the ground for postings this week but I've been busy with other stuff.  I did manage to get some craft time earlier and was playing around with some vellum that I've had in my stash for several years now!  It was one of those items that I bought and then didn't really know what to do with it - still not sure but I thought I'd print out a digi and go from there.  I chose a Saturated Canary image ( she's called Sleepng Beauty) and then I checked out the current challenge over at  the challenge blog.
      I didn't want to colour her completely as I wanted the see-through look from the vellum so I just added a touch of colour to her eyes and hair.  I then used my Dylusions ink sprays to get the gorgeously vivid colours for the background and decided to keep everything else white (except for the pale grey stamping on the card base and tag).   The frame, swirl. tag and flowers were of course cut with my Cameo and the sentiment is a rub-on (not sure by who as again, it's been in my stash for a very long time!)

                My only niggle is that she has a purple blotch showing through right above her eye!!  Never mind - if you don't try these things, you don't know how they'll work out.

    I would like to enter this into the challenges at Saturated Canary, Simon Says Stamp. TTCRD, Silhouette and My Heart Pieces.

Thanks for stopping by!

K.I.S.S card

Hello all!
well, after yesterday's card of many bits, I'm back with something a bit more familiar to me.  Keep it simple silly (stupid seems a bit harsh!).  I would like to thank you for your comments and advice on this card - it's great to hear what other people think, especially if you've been obsessing over things!

       Anyway, this card is definitely a K.I.S.S card and was done using my fabulous Silhouette Cameo - I do so love that machine :)  I'm also a fan of all the "Keep Calm" stuff and so decided to incorporate that into a Christmas card.  I used the actual Keep Calm font which I had downloaded from one of the many free font sites out there and made a bauble shape just by merging a circle and a small rounded corner rectangle.  The silver cardstock was backed with red to give it some punch and then I simply added a ribbon on the top - oh, nearly forgot the heat embossed edging of Stampendous white powder to give it a snow-kissed look!

 

I would like to enter this into the challenges at -

Addicted to CAS - bauble

Bunny Zoe

Through the craft room door

Holly Jolly Christmas

Oozak

 

 

Thanks for popping in :)

La vie francaise.

Hello all!
Bet you didn't know I could speak french.......  I'm very rusty but many moons ago I studied French and German at 'A' level standard (no idea what the equivalent would be here in the States?).  I also lived in the Netherlands for 6 months as part of my college course but although I got to understand the language fairly well, I was always much too shy to speak it!

         Anyway the reason for the french title is due to the current challenge over at Simon Says Stamp & Show  - 'Inspiration Francaise' .  I have been working on some board canvas pieces lately - I love the subway graphics look that is currently so very popular but I wanted to grunge it up a bit!

    I started with a 9" x 12" canvas board and laid down a base of gessoed dictionary pages.  Then I sponged on some red and blue acrylic paint and once that had dried, stamped on some random images and text.  I then applied some vinyl words, cut using my Silhouette Cameo - I used a variety of fonts and a sihouette of the Eiffel Tower.  I finished it by inking the edges and applying some matt Mod Podge to protect the whole thing.

Et voila............

 

 

Need to work on my photo staging - the metal bird just happened to be there and I didn't have anything at all French!

 

 I would like to enter this into the SSS&S challenge as well as the Anything Goes challenge at Loves rubber stamps , Craft My Life challenge 2  and the 'Countries' challenge at Crafting When We Can.

 

Thanks for stopping by again :)



The British are coming!!!

Hello all!
Hope you all had a great weekend, whatever you got up to.  We went to see some 'punkin chunkin' today - we're trying to do as much of the American experience as possible and sometimes the cheesier, weirder and odder, the better! 
     We had first seen this on the Discovery Channel and it basically involves a bunch of folk building a machine that will hurl a pumpkin as far as possible.  What more could you want from a gloriously sunny Fall afternoon?  It was pretty good and that's another check off the list :)

    Anyway, on to the card.  After an American themed day, I have a British themed card (go figure!)  I have been doing some subway art canvas creations and had some vinyl lettering left over from using my Cameo.  With a neutral cardstock and the addition of a couple of stickers, I came up with a sort of subway art card - nice and simple and ideal for a guy card which always seems to be a harder thing to come up with.

 

How very jolly and rather super!

 

I would like to enter this into the following Anything Goes challenges -

http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/

http://onestopcraftchallenge.blogspot.com/

http://thepoodlesparlour.blogspot.com/

http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!