Project: A heart challenge for Moving Along with the Times

Hello and welcome to another fun challenge at Moving Along with the Times! We have a heart theme this week so it should be fun to play along with. 

I decided to modify one of my favourite Bugaboo images. Normally the mouse is chasing a balloon but I used a stitched heart die instead. Look at his little face! Such joy! 

I used ProMarkers to colour him in and then die cut him out into the circle so he could pop out a bit against the background. I used a giant background stamp to get the irregular dots using a splash of water over distress ink to make them a bit whispery. 

The sentiment is an ancient one and I kind of wish I had made it pop out more but never mind! 

Hope you have fun playing along this week! 

Project: Anything Christmas for MAWTT

This week at Moving Along With the Times we are doing an anything Christmas challenge. Great brief right. 

I decided to make something of a collage card as I've been doing a lot of CAS lately and I wanted to make something with a few more textures. I started by blending a green card and adding a text stamp that works really well for background. I die cut it using a stitched rectangle die and then added a few stamps from a Christmas vintage Recollections set. The newsprint card is a scrap that I've had for a while and I thought it looked better on kraft card than on white. I added some olive green enamel triangles for texture and balance on the layout. 

I'm really thrilled with it, I may just make a few more like this as it was a lot of fun to do the layout. Hope you have fun playing along!

Project: Winter animals for MAWTT

This week at Moving Along with the Times we are doing a Winter Animals challenge. 

I decided to play along with these little Christmas penguins. I colored them with ProMarkers and then fussy cut them out. I added plenty of glitter glue to the pompoms and earmuffs. 

The sentiment is from a Recollections set and I decided to feature it in white so it would standout on the blue. The background paper is a green damask that I thought worked well with the images. 

Hope you have fun playing along! 

Project: Masculine typewriter card for MAWTT

I love challenging myself to use some of my older stash, or things that I forgot I had, or things that I loved once but haven't used in some time...and today's card is a perfect example of rediscovering the joys of my craft room. 

Our challenge at Moving Along with the Times this week is to make a masculine card. While I have plenty of 'traditional' stamps and images I decided to make this for someone specific and tailor it to him. A really good friend is turning 30 and he's a writer so I decided to make his card featuring a Stampin' Up typewriter. 

I made the background card with an alphabet stamp that came with the typewriter and repeated it down a piece of white card, which I then die cut with a spotted border die. There are some awkward edges from the alphabet stamp but I actually kind of like it. I sort of wish I'd inked the edges for extra distressing but I didn't think of it. Oh well. 

I heat embossed the typewriter image in white against a black card to make it stand out and then I added a 30 in a white gel pen. It's a fun little card and totally meets the brief. Can't wait to see what everyone else comes out with this week! 

Project: Ribbon card for MAWTT

This week at Moving Along with the Times we're doing a ribbon theme - and I freakin' love ribbon. I have SO MUCH of the stuff, it's tangled and balled and tied together and covering so much space...and I love it.

I decided to feature it instead of an image and cut 6 strands in dotted grosgrain ribbon, knotting them in the top third and then cutting them on the bias. I put them on a diagonal for a rainbow effect and then used Stampin' Up Endless Birthday Wishes set to split the sentiment in the top and bottom. I added a touch of mustard over the navy to give it a bit more of an accent.

I had so much fun shopping my ribbon stash for this I hope it provides you with the same entertainment as you craft!

Project: Texture cards for MAWTT

This week at Moving Along with the Times we have a fun challenge featuring texture. I played a lot with this but ultimately decided on a really fun (and girly!) card featuring three types of texture: foiled paper, layered dies and a big pop-up embellishment.

The foiled  spotted paper was a freebie from Crop on the Cape this year and I layered it against hot pink. The die cut sentiment is a Sizzix set and I thought the pink on its own wasn't standing out so I layered it over a black die cut and really like the shadow effect. Finally these incredible flamingos are from Claire from Paper Source. Aren't they too much fun?! This card is making me smile with how sweet and yet weirdly sophisticated it is.

Hope it provides some inspiration for you this week!

Project: Wild animals for MAWTT

I love an animal card so the theme this week at MAWTT was right up my street. I decided to use an old favourite, the marching band animal set from Avery Elle. It's so cheerful it works for kids and adults alike and every time I make one it gets used straight away.

I started by stamping and die cutting each of the animals. I then dug in my paper stash for a suitably bright and cheerful background paper - I have a paper amnesty this year where I'm only buying plain stock, no patterns as I just have so many! I coloured the animals using ProMarkers and then layered them against the bright papers. I chose to keep them all in greens and browns - sometimes I go nuts and colour them whatever colour I feel like but this time I kept it simple. 

The little characters bring me so much joy - hopefully they inspire you to take part in this week's challenge! 

Project: Feature florals at MAWTT

This week at Moving Along with the Times we have a fun (and hopefully easy!) challenge for you: use florals as the feature. We all have so many flower stamps it's fun to make them the hero. 

I decided to use a set from Creative Stamping magazine - I think this particular set is from 2015? 2016? - and I heat embossed it to make it really pop. I used Distress Inks and an aqua brush to make it stand out against the watercolour paper. The background is lovely - my last precious sheet - from a Trader Jane set I got years ago as a gift. And then the sentiment is Penny Black - I decided to put it on an angle to give it an unexpected modern twist. I love the gem tones and overall effect - hopefully it provides some inspiration to you this week! 

Project: Black, white and color at MAWTT

This week at MAWTT I got to choose the theme which was really fun. I love doing a colour pop so I thought black, white and one colour would be a fun one - thanks for playing along.

For my card I stencilled a yellow hexagon pattern and then die cut a black hexagon that was embossed with dots. I stamped the bee and fussy cut it out, colouring the stripes with ProMarkers. The sentiment is an old Sizzix one that I kind of forgot I had - I think it works well to have some curlicue against the hard edges of all the hexagons.

All in all I am really happy with it and hope it provides some inspiration for everyone playing along this week! 

Project: Fantasy at MAWTT

This week at MAWTT we have a fantasy challenge - a really fun way of getting to use some of my lovely dragon stamps from Bugaboo!

This guy is an old favourite. I colored him with ProMarkers and then die cut it in a circle, layered over a scalloped circle. I added touches of enamel accents and glitter glue. The sentiment tag is ancient, I've had it for years. I thought it worked though I wish my little enamel dots were straighter! Oh well, not always perfect when you do things by hand.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else does this week.

Project: A pickle card for MAWTT

Sometimes the card-making gods want you to have a great time in your craft room. This week at Moving Along with the Times we hope you find our food and drink theme inspiration to have a silly time as well! I decided out of all my wine/cocktail/martini stamps to go for food, and ignoring all my cake stamps was hard. But I LOVE this Big Dill stamp and decided he was perfect for our challenge. 

And, as I'm all about making things hard on myself I decided to go sketch shopping at The Paper Players: 

I started with the stamped image and colored it with ProMarkers then used the matching dies. The sentiment is part of the set and I stamped it directly on a die cut hexagon. I cut little black banners at the top and made them shorter - I tried them long but they were too distracting for the busyness of the paper and image so I cut them so they come off the top. I drew a border with a marker pen and a ruler. I tried adding string but decided it was too much. 

What a fun little card, I was just really pleased to get my mojo going as I've been a bit too distracted to do a proper project lately. But this was a hoot. I hope you join us for a MAWTT bit of fun! 

Project: A rainbow texture paste card for MAWTT

I absolutely LOVE our rainbow challenge at Moving Along with the Times this week. I decided to do something a bit artsy and I loved where I ended up. I used a big block stripe stencil to create my rainbow with Distress Oxides.

I then used a cloud stencil with white texture paste to create the clouds. I went over them a few times and I liked the texture being a bit irregular. I had to be very careful to make sure the clouds were fairly consistent as the thin initial layers were too transparent and didn't look white enough. The sentiment is one I got second hand and I think it works so well with the layout.

I wanted to keep everything else simple - I tried bling and glitter and all sorts of things but decided clean was the best way.

Hope the challenge inspires your entries as well!

Project 460: A contemporary valentine

It's the start of February which means we're all rushing to get some Valentines done for our friends and family - so a great time to play with our Moving along with the Times Love challenge! 

We're looking for any card that features love: Valentine, Wedding, Engagement - if you're loving someone we're all about that. 

For my card I went very untraditional. I wanted to make something fresh and hip. I used some beautiful patterned paper from Studio Calico (I'm trying to clear out my paper stash and I keep finding lovely stuff that I really should be using!) and used a green card blank to make the colors stand out. The diagonal bias makes it even more unexpected I think. I used a die cut heart that I stole from Claire years ago (I have a big box of them - also trying to clear that!) and then die cut out the letters and hashtag in green card stock. The letters are Tim Holtz, the hashtag is a Sizzix 'insta' die set that I bought thinking it'd be great and then struggled to use...but this works I think. 

Super different from some of the other cards but hopefully you'll find inspiration to suit your taste. Can't wait to see what others come up with! x

Project 450: CAS Flower challenge

This week at Moving Along with the Times we are doing a flower challenge. Nice and easy to bring us into the new year!

I decided to keep it CAS but use some fun techniques. I started by heat embossing a flower stamp and sentiment (both free from magazines, over a few years!) and then I die cut a circle from another sheet so I could create a mask to blend within. The Distress Inks are Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers. I felt like it was a little naked so I added some white enamel dots around the page. Ok, actually I'm hiding an oops where I smudged some ink on it!

I am also entering CASology challenge this week with the theme of Encourage. I'm giving this card to a colleague to cheer her up and I hope it does just that.

Hope everyone has a good first week of the new year. 

Project: Anything but a card for MAWTT

Hello and happy almost Christmas! This week at Moving Along with the Times we have an 'Anything but a Card' challenge for you. Luckily this time of year everyone giving gifts needs gift tags so this was a great opportunity for me to make a fun set.

I started with a fun deer stamp that I haven't used much despite having it for some time. I heat embossed it in black and white directly on a tag. I then blended the background using a mix of Distress Inks and Distress Oxides. I took two large background stamps, one that has a random sort of smooshed-texture and the other that is a moroccan tile pattern and used Distress Inks sprayed with water to get irregular prints. I added some paint flicks for good measure.

I tried a different image but it was a bit too busy given the complicated background, so I stuck to the deer for the rest of the mini set. I really liked having a messy play, it's always fun to get away from cards and mix it up a bit. Can't wait to see what projects you come up with!

Project: Christmas animals at MAWTT

Hello and happy almost December to you all!

This week at Moving Along with the Times we are celebrating our seasonality by asking for a challenge with festive animals. Hope that will inspire some fun projects for you. 

For mine, I decided to do something different. I have loads of Christmas stamps, loads of images and I thought, why go down the easy route when we could make this harder? :-P So I decided to shop my stash and take a non-Christmas image and turn it into one. I started with a Bugaboo Squirrel image and colored him using Spectrum Noir pencils. I die cut him and added another scallop die behind him. The background paper is an old one that I have had for a while and is particularly hard to work with. I love the colors but I can never find the right image - I decided that now was the time. 

To make it more festive, I added a die cut sentiment from a Tim Holtz set, and then added a little Jolee Boutique candy cane sticker - I think this one might have come from Claire as she knows I love her stickers. I'm actually really pleased with this, it looks really cozy and that's what we want from the holidays, isn't it? 

Project: Using at Tag for MAWTT

This week at Moving Along with the Times we have a fun challenge: use a charm or tag. I can't remember us ever having a challenge like this so I was pumped - hope you are too!

I decided to use this for my dad's birthday card. He's a keen wine buff so I thought this would be a great way to incorporate a die into the tag. I started with a big kraft tag and then used Vintage Photo distress ink to give more texture to the tag. I die cut the wine bottle, the burst at the top and the 'Cheers' sentiments and then layered it all on top of an old text card stock that I had held on to for years. It came together really quickly, I added some glitter to the star burst bit I don't love it. Oh well!

Looking forward to what everyone else will do!

Project: Things that fly at MAWTT

I have been making a lot of cards lately that involve birds, butterflies, hot air balloons, and I realised that I seem to be obsessed with things that fly. I thought it would be the perfect challenge for Moving Along with the Times this week!

My card features a set of bug stamps that I heat embossed in black. I put them on a strip of watercolour paper that I painted using an aqua brush and Distress Inks. I tried to choose colors associated with that particular bug and I'm really happy with the combination. I added a sentiment from Tim Holtz idea-ology stickers that I thought worked well for the set. I tried it on white, black and kraft card and decided black looked best.

Project: Wedding, Engagement and Anniversary at MAWTT

I loved the theme this week so much that I decided to do a card for each of our category options at Moving Along with the Times this week.

The wedding card headliner was really fun, we have a wedding coming up and I wanted to make something colourful and different for them. The sentiments were from a magazine, I think Quick Cards and I embossed them in white powder and then blended over it using Mustard Seed and Peacock Feather distress ink. I used an Avery Elle stencil in Blueprint Sketch to stand out.

For the next two cards I decided to play with a Moroccan tile background stamp. I used a few different blues to get depth and then spritzed it with water. I covered the full background and then did two versions, all featuring the same sentiment stamp set as the headline. The Anniversary card features these great little felt birds I have had forever, I thought they were weird and kitsch and perfect for an anniversary card. The cake die is a bit fiddly so I only popped out the bigger spaces, not the little dots as they are so fiddly. Very simple but full of character. I like it, can't wait to see what everyone else makes!

Project: Embossing challenge at Moving Along with the Times

This week's challenge at Moving Along with the Times is an embossing challenge and it's so versatile it was hard to decide what to do. I decided to go silly - sometimes that's the best and only option!

For the headline card I started by heat embossing the white heart in the latte and then stamped over it with the circle for coffee and the mug. The mug is an outline so I colored that in using ProMarkers. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up and is part of two stamps (the 'let's sit together and drink' is one and then there are four varieties for tea, coffee, hot cocoa and champagne). I die cut the square boarders and, to give it a bit more fun, I added a stencilled background of big overlapping circles using Distress Ink.

This second card features a sentiment is heat embossed using a rich black powder. I created a frame from a white card with a window cut out and I blended it using Picked Raspberry Distress Ink to blend around. I stamped donuts and then layered it using icing and sprinkle stamps in different colors so they peep through the window. I added pink enamel accent dots to make it a more springy. Looks fairly straight forward but with all of the stamping layers took a while to put together. I like the final effect and can't wait to see what embossing projects everyone else does!