ISSC04 - Week 4 At iSpy Sketches

Are you enjoying the challenges at iSpy Sketches?   I'm really enjoying them!  This week the sketch is based on this card by Heather Klump (tankgrl at SCS) - you can see the sketch below.

And here's my card!  I adore this sentiment from Inkadinkado.  So cute.

The striped twill ribbon and the hemp twine are from the Ribbon Carousel, and the patterned paper is from My Minds Eye.  I die cut the buttons out of the same paper pack and covered them in Glossy Accents.

And here's the sketch...

How about a little enabling?  The Ribbon Carousel is about to ship their first wholesale order of carousels, so that means no more discounts on the website.  They're available at this fabulous price for one week only!  So if you've been thinking about getting one, now is the time!  Click the picture to go to the store.

Make sure you head over to iSpy Sketches to see the fabulous creations from the DT!


Supplies

Danielle

RCC41 - Colours & Swirls

Hello again!  I'm back to share my card for the Ribbon Carousel Challenge #41 - Colours and Swirls with Bugaboo Stamps.  I loved this digital stamp, called Make it Snappy - You Are My Sunshine, as soon as I saw it, and it was so much fun to colour on kraft cardstock!  

In case you didn't know, Bugaboo Stamps share a free digital stamp every Friday - it's a fabulous way to try out their awesome images.  :-)

And thanks to The Twinery - "I Want It All" 18 color Sampler Pack that I just got from the Ribbon Carousel, I had plenty of cute colours to choose from for my twine bows.

And here is the challenge...

Thanks for visiting!  Make sure you visit the Ribbon Carousel Challenge #41 - Colours and Swirls to see the gorgeous creations from the Design Team.  :-)


Supplies

Danielle

Lil Michelle

Hello!  I have a card share using a gorgeous new stamp I got recently.  This the adorable Lil Michelle With Teddy from AnnaBelle Stamps.  Isn't she cute?  

I decided to enter the current challenge at the AnnaBelle Stamps Blog to use background stamps, so I masked off the image after I'd coloured it and stamped Sanded on the entire panel.

And here's the challenge link -

AnnaBelle Stamps - Background Stamps

AnnaBelle Stamps has recently launched a fabulous online community called Stamp Embellish Create.  It's a free community sharing all sorts of crafting and stamping techniques, with lots of tutorials to access!  I'm headed over there next to add this card to my gallery.  :-)  It's well worth checking out!


Supplies

Danielle

iSpy Sketches Number 3 - ISSC03

I'm a little late with my post for this week's iSpy Sketches challenge, but I just couldn't make what I was working on work! Just when I was about to snap with utter frustration, the postman arrived with my order from Verve Stamps.  Verve to the rescue!  How could I not be inspired by this sentiment...

I layered Distress Inks in Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap and Scattered Straw to get the perfect match over the sentiment.  The papers are from My Minds Eye Lost & Found Sunshine Forever from Craft-A-Lot and the 5/8" Black Cotton Twill Ribbon is from The Ribbon Carousel.

This week's sketch is based on this card by Sean Fetterman.  You can check out Sean's gallery or his blog to see more of his gorgeous creations.  And here's the sketch...

Thanks for visiting!  Make sure you stop by this week's iSpy Sketches challenge to see what the other Special Agents have created!

Supplies

Danielle

Win A Ribbon Carousel!

You have a few more hours to enter the Create Giveaway to win a Ribbon Carousel...

Head over to the Create Blog to enter!

And a little ribbon enabling for you...  ;-)

Celebrate with 15% off through until February 15th. Use coupon code "Valentine" at check out!
(Don't forget that in Australia we're ahead of the US time zones!) 

Danielle

Summer Honey

Hello!  The gorgeous Authentique Free Bird Series Endless & Fair Weather 6x6 Paper Pad from Craft-A-Lot has been beckoning to me lately.  I love the patterns and the rich colours.  So I thought I'd do a little paper piecing with a CC Designs stamp called Honey - Summer, also available from Craft-A-Lot.

That little bathing cap was just crying out for a cute pattern, don't you think?  :-)

The circle behind Honey - Summer is coloured using Distress Inks.  One of the things I love about Distress Inks is how you can combine colours to get the perfect shade.  I got this shade by blending Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Iced Spruce, which is from the Limited Edition Christmas Distress Inks.  Love it!

And this is the sketch I used:

Freshly Made Sketches #21

Thanks for stopping by!  :-)

Supplies

Danielle

Hey There...

Welcome to the second week of iSpy Sketches! Our sketch this week is inspired by this gorgeous card by Beate Johns - visit Beate's SCS gallery and her blog to see more of her beautiful creations.

I really liked how my card from this post turned out when I used this free digital stamp from The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS) recently, so I thought I'd use it again.  I decided to stick with the same colour scheme... 

And I used this gorgeous Authentique Free Bird Series Endless & Fair Weather Patterned Paper from Craft-A-Lot (check out the Unity Sale that's on at the moment).  I love that range of paper!

Make sure you head over to iSpy Sketches to see the Secret Agents' stunning cards!  Here's this week's sketch:

And I'm entering this into the TAWS #1 Challenge too.  :-)

TAWS #1

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies

Danielle

MSS and RC Blog Hop

Hello there! We have a special surprise for you this week at the Ribbon Carousel - we've partnered up with the amazing Market Street Stamps for our weekly challenge AND a 2 day Blog Hop Extravaganza!  It started yesterday, but don't worry if you haven't heard about it yet!  You have till next Monday to do the hop and be in the running for some fabulous prizes.  Here are all the Blog Hop details:

What: Market Street Stamps and Ribbon Carousel Blog Hop!

When: Tuesday, February 7 through Monday, February 13 11:59pm EST

Where: Market Street Stamps Blog and Ribbon Carousel Blog 

How: Start the blog hop at either the Market Street Stamps Blog or  Ribbon Carousel Blog. Visit each of the designers blogs featured on both days, Tuesday and Wednesday. When you have completed the Blog Hop, leave your name on the Inlinkz on either the Market Street Stamps Blog or the Ribbon Carousel Blog. You have until NEXT MONDAY, February 13 at 11:59pm EST to complete the entire hop.

3 Prizes for 3 winners: We’re giving away two $25 Gift Certificates to the Market Street Stamps store and a brand new Ribbon Carousel!

Now, with all of this going on, we thought we better make this week’s challenge an easy one!  So… Anything Goes!  To enter our challenges, make a creation using anything that comes on a spool somewhere on your project, and enter for a chance to be one of our TOP SPOOLS!

Here is my card using 2 gorgeous stamp sets from Market Street Stamps - Vintage Wallpaper and Believing Butterfly.  And I used the colours from the current Market Street Stamps Paint The Town Challenge.

Be sure to hop on over to the rest of today’s blog hop participants! Here is a list to help you hop.

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies

Danielle

TAWS Challenge

When I saw the latest free digital stamp from The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS), I knew I wanted to colour it on kraft.  And I just love the way it's turned out!

I used the TAWS #1 Challenge to inspire the vibrant pop of colour, although I omitted the pinks.

And the gorgeous ribbon is the 5/8" Yellow Solid Plaid from the Ribbon Carousel.

And here's the TAWS #1 challenge.  I love that Alison has made the challenge to be however you are inspired by the photo - for me, it's that POP of colour.  Beautiful.

TAWS #1

Paper Sundaes Challenge #106 - Clean and Simple

DYSU #57 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies

Danielle

ISSC01 - The iSpy Sketches Debut!

It's time for the very first sketch of the iSpy Sketch challenge blog!  I'm still pinching myself about being on this team... :-)  This week's sketch is inspired by this beautiful card by Loretta Lock.  Make sure you stop by Loretta's gallery or her blog to check out her gorgeous work.  Thanks for inspiring us this week,  Loretta!

And here's what I came up with...

The TGF stamp and papers are from Craft-A-Lot and the net ribbon is from the Ribbon Carousel - links are at the bottom!

Make sure you visit the iSpy Sketches blog to see the other Secret Agents fabulous creations!  This is a seriously talented team...

Thanks for stopping by!



Supplies

Danielle

Ribbon Flower Tutorial

A few months back I made this card for the Ribbon Carousel.  I had lots of comments about the flower, so I thought I'd do a little tutorial to show you how I made it.  It's very easy.  :-)

Thanks for visiting!


Supplies

Danielle

Q&A - My Craft Space

I got lots of lovely comments and emails on my Craft Space feature on the Create Blog, and I got a couple of questions too, so I thought I'd share my answers here in case it's useful to anyone else.  :-)

A couple of people asked if I could share the chart/storage sheets that I made for my Distress Ink Blending Foams.  Absolutely!  You can download the pdf I made HERE, but I would like to mention that all I did was to enlarge the existing Tim Holtz Distress Ink Colour Chart so that it spread over 2 A4 pages. It's the perfect size for the blending foams to fit comfortably and I can still see the colour underneath.  I masked off each square to colour them with the blending tool, so the example is the actual result from using the blending foams.  It might seem like a small thing, but the colours can look quite applied different this way.  Then I laminated the sheets and stuck some small self-adhesive velcro to each square.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  But be warned - when your blending foams have lots of colour on them like these ones, that can rub off onto other items... so don't store these next to card stock!

Can you tell me if you store full sheets of card stock in your file folders? I file my scraps this way but I’ve never had separate folders for each SU color, just main colors like red, etc.
Yes, I have all the colours separated with full sheets of card stock and a little clear folder for the same shade scraps.  I didn't start out with that intention, but I found I spent ages figuring out exactly which shade of card stock was which from the colour family packs, and then I just got frustrated!  So I figured it was easier to spend a minute unpacking the card stock into their files in the first place.  It's just me being fussy!

How did you make or maybe you bought the item that holds your punches? It looks user friendly and I have been wanting something like that but just haven’t found anything yet.
My husband built it for me!  I kept seeing all these gorgeous craft spaces that had rails on the walls for punches, and my husband offered to make me a wooden one because we were in a rental at the time and didn't have anywhere to hang rails.  He measured for it by laying out the punches according to size and making sure he left enough room for them to be removed and replaced.  Then he built a basic frame based on those measurements - 4 pieces of timber and a ply board backing, and inserted dowel/rods before nailing the final piece together.  He drilled shallow holes for the rods to sit in inside the actual frame.

Is that a little sunken basin on the right side of the desk?

Nope, that's my Stampin' Scrub for cleaning stamps and underneath that are my paper trimmers.  :-)  But a basin sounds like a fabulous idea...

I'll add any more questions and answers here.  :-)

Danielle