InKing Royalty January Blog Hop - Special Guest!

I am so thrilled to be a special guest on the InKing Royalty's January Blog Hop. The theme their team hops this year will be based on popular songs - how fun is that?!  'I Think I Love You' is the theme for this month and now I literally cannot stop singing it! 

You may have just arrived here from the amazing Shawn de Oliveira.  After you read my post, please hop over to the next person on the list at the bottom of this post.

The team leader of the InKing Royalty Team is non-other than my good friend Brian King, who is a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator from Atlanta, Georgia USA. We met in 2013 at the Stampin' Up! Convention in Salt Lake City - Utah, and have been connected at the hip ever since. (As much as one can when living on opposite sides on the world!!) This is my favorite photo of us:

I had to put my thinking cap on for today's card as I only have a limited number of products from the new Occasions Catalogue (I'm waiting on my next order to arrive) and after cleaning out the craftroom of retired stamps it seemed as though I didn't have much - it only seemed that way, because the reality is I'm not short of any craft supplies - however let's not tell my husband that!! ;)

The 'you are lovely' sentiment was created using the Lovely Words Thinlits dies and the Thoughtful Banners stamp set. The flowers are from the Sale-a-Bration stamp set Lots of Lavender. I stamped the flowers twice using Archival Black Ink onto Shimmery White and watercoloured using Melon Mambo and Old Olive. After some careful cutting of them both I adhered one to the top right of the heart. With the second flower I cut off the leaves and discarded the flower (you could place this on the inside) and placed one half of the leaves on the bottom left and the other tucked up under the other flower at the top and placed it so it followed the shape of the heart. The Lots of Lavender stamp set is a great set to have and the best part is you can earn this for free from the Sale-a-Bration brochure! 

Lots of Lavender - Sale-a-Bration

Thanks you so much for visiting me today, I hope you are singing along with me "I Think I Love You" while you're hopping through getting your inspiration for all things love! Now to the next stop on the blog hop, Katie Ferguson. 

If you anything goes wrong during the hop, please use this line-up as a guide:

1. Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty
2. Brian King at Stamp with Brian
3. Jackie Beers at Blue Line Stamping
4. Shawn de Oliveira at Shawn Stamps
5. Louise Sharp at LouiseSharp.com < You are here
6. Katie Ferguson at Cottage Paper
7. Rachael Shedeed at Bluebonnet Stampin'
8. Pam Morris at Tap Tap Stamp
9. Lisa Pretto at Ink Big Academy Stamps
10. Robbye Hamilton at Miss Hammie's Crafts
11. Jennifer Spiller at Westside Paper Creations
12. Julie DiMatteo at The Paper Pixie
13. Sue Jackson at Just Peachy Stamping
14. Candy Ford at Stamp Candy

Thanks for stopping by,

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Global Design Project - Sketch Challenge

#GDP122
Happy Monday. It's the Summer school holidays in Australia and we spent the day looking for new school backpacks, lunch boxes and pencil cases followed by an hour at the beach. It was a lovely day and I actually really enjoy school holidays, however I will be happy when life gets back to some type routine!

There's a sketch challenge over at the Global Design Project this week and it was a popular one for all the Design Team too - we enjoyed this sketch.

Have you been swooning over the new Occasions Catalogue and the freebies you can get during the Sale-a-Bration like I have been?! I opened my new Lots of Lavender set this week and it's so pretty. 

I quickly watercoloured the flowers using an Aqua Painter and the ink from the lids of Sweet Sugar Plum and Berry Burst and the leaves using Old Olive. The sentiment if from my all time favourite sentiment stamp set - Teeny Tiny Sentiments.

Lots of Lavender - Sale-a-Bration Set

Now head over to the Global Design Project and see what the amazing Design Team have in store for you this week.

Thanks for stopping by,

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Be Inspired Blog Hop - Sale-a-Brations!

Welcome to the Be Inspired Design Team Blog Hop. You may have just arrived here from my lovely friend Maike Ulbrich from Germany - it's she just the best?! 

The theme for this hop is 'Be Inspired by Sale-a-Bration'.

Stampin' Up!'s biggest promotion of the year is here and every year they bring out exclusive products that just have to make it into my craftroom! For today's hop I have used Epic Celebrations from page 12 of the brochure and keeping with my crafting goals for this year - to make more masculine cards - I've kicked it off with a card for my hubby. It's his birthday tomorrow and he does love his guitars. I was trying to replicate (the best I could) his white Gretsch guitar, however I been advised the shape looks more like his Ibanez - pfft, whatever - he's getting a handmade card and that's should be good enough right?! lol 

I embossed the image using White Emboss Powder onto Basic Black Cardstock and with careful precision cut out the neck of the guitar. I then stamped using Archival Black into Thick Whisper White Cardstock and cut the body out and adhered the neck using Multipurpose Glue. Those crafty lines around the outside are hand-drawn using my own Artline pen. 

Epic Celebrations

Next up to 'Be Inspired' by is my talented and super sweet friend, Janneke de Jong from the Netherlands.

 

Louise Sharp

Janneke De Jong
Tanja Kolar
Jenny Hall

Carolynn Sander

Maike Ulbrich

Thanks for hopping by!

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Global Design Project - CASE-ing Krista Frattin

#GDP120

Happy new year friends, I hope you had a lovely Christmas and new year - it's hard to believe it is 2018!  Do you have any goals or plans for the coming year? My crafting goal this year is to try and create more male cards. With so many amazing men in my life including my hubby, son,  brothers, nephews, uncles and friends I rarely have a male card on hand....surely they don't mind getting pink floral cards too?! ;) 

I love it when we get to CASE team designers on the Global Design Project for 'CASE the Designer' challenge. This week we are getting our inspiration from Krista Frattin from Stampin' Dolce. I have always been amazed at Krista's messy/clean style and her ability to use embellishments on her creations so skillfully! 

The definition of CASE: Copy And Share Everything or as the GDP call it Copy And Selectively Edit! Put simply, we get our inspiration from a particular project or creation. For this challenge we can use ANY element. You might be inspired by the colours, the stamp set or the card layout.

I took my inspiration from Krista's layout including a wide border and also added elements of ribbon and a flagged sentiment. 

I coloured the sweet elephant with Watercolor Pencils and Aqua Painter. Tip: When using the Aqua Painter with the pencils ensure the brush isn't too wet and use a paper towel to take off any excess water.

Even though my goal is to create more masculine cards this year, my friend Jo introduced a baby girl into the world three days ago - so that settled it - a baby girl card it is! This card using the elephant from the A Little Wild stamp set on page 108 of the Annual Catalogue can easily be turned into a baby boy card too. Another idea is use the lion or bear from the same set and make a collection of cards - I'm just filled with ideas!

Now head over to the Global Design Project and see what the amazing Design Team have in store for you this week.

Thanks for stopping by,

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