CSAYL - Inspiration Pic

This week is the final challenge for CSAYL for the year. It has been great as a member of the DT with all the other fantastic designers and to be able to create all the cards I need for Christmas plus more!!

Our sponsor this week is Kenny K and there will be 3 winners. The first will receive 3 free digis, the second will win 2 free digis and the third will be win 1 free digi!!

We have a gorgeous inspiration pic for you to work with this week:

I chose to work with the new sleigh digi for my card. This is such a fabulous image and I had so many wonderful ideas in my head but for some reason I had trouble carrying that out on my card. Anyway, here is my creation:

I used New Leaf cardstock for my base, cutting the front a little shorter than the back. I then edged a piece of white card with my Upper Crest border punch, stamped my Merry Christmas sentiment in New Leaf ink, added some silver rhinestones and adhered this to the bottom of my New Leaf front base.

My sleigh image was printed onto  more white cardstock and then coloured in with Copics. Finally some glitter was added to the sleigh and the ground. This layer was adhered to the front of my base, leaving a little strip of New Leaf base showing through. I finished off the front by adhering two pieces of ribbon to the joins and some more glitter to the edges of the card.

Very simple card, but I am just not that happy about it - I think I envisioned just using the green and silver from the inspiration photo, but I needed to add more colour to my sleigh image so this didn't happen.

Anyway, hop on over to the CSAYL blog for your chance to win this week's fabulous prize! I hope on your journey with us throughout the year you have been able to get a great start on your Christmas cards too!!

Supplies
Stamps: Sleigh digi (Kenny K); Holiday Button Bits (PTI)
Cardstock: New Leaf, Stampers Select White (PTI)
Ink: New Leaf (PTI)
Accessories: Upper Crest border punch (Fiskars); Dazzling Diamonds glitter (SU); silver rhinestones (Kaisercraft); Copics; green ribbon; glue pen

CSAYL -Never Seen Ink

Its time for CSAYL's 2nd last challenge for the year! This week we have to make a creation using a set that hasn't seen ink before. I found this hard as just about every set has been inked up at least once but I decided to go with Papertrey Ink's Tiny Treats: Christmas as this is relatively new for me.

I was having some friends over for a cardmaking night this weekend, so I thought this set would be perfect for some pillow boxes as teacher gifts. I used the Stampin' Up pillow box die to cut my template and some Deck The Halls - 3 Bugs In A Rug DP. I punched out my image layer using my curly label punch and stamped my image and sentiment, before adding some glitter around the edges. This was matted on a coloured layer which was hand cut using the top layer as a guide.  Here are the 3 pillow boxes below:

There are some fabulous creations over at the CSAYL blog so be sure to have a look and enter the challenge. The top 10 faves will be posted on the blog at the end of the week!

Supplies
Stamps: Tiny Treats: Christmas (PTI)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler (SU); Deck The Halls DP (3 Bugs in a Rug)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive (SU)
Accessories: Curly Label Punch, Pillow Box die, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, dimensionals (SU)

CSAYL - It's My FAVE!

Only three more challenges to go over at CSAYL for the year!! This week, the challenge is to use your favourite sketch for your card or creation. The sponsor of the challenge is Pink Cat Studio  and the winner will receive 5 free digis!!

I chose to work with Santa for this challenge and I chose the current sketch over at AnnaBelle Stamps blog:

I printed my digi image onto white cardstock and coloured it in with my Copic markers. Some glitter was added to Santa's trim and some blue pearls added for bling and I matted this on some Spring Rain cardstock. My background layer was created with my Guidelines II stamp set using three motifs with Bashful Blue, Night of Navy and Riding Hood Red inks and this was then matted onto more Spring Rain card and some navy ribbon tied around the centre. Both layers were then matted onto my card base.

Again, I have kept the inside very simple. I stamped my sentiment from Stampin Up's Short and Sweet set in Night of Navy ink and the matching snowflakes in Bashful Blue ink. Some more blue pearls were added to the snowflake centres and the layer matted on some Spring Rain cardstock.

Join in this challenge over at CSAYL for your chance to win the 5 free digis and also get your Christmas card stash started if you haven't already!!

Supplies
Stamps: Santa digi (PCS); Guidelines II (PTI); Short and Sweet (SU)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Guidelines Grid cardstock, Spring Rain (PTI)
Ink: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Riding Hood Red (SU)
Accessories: navy ribbon, blue pearls (Kaisercraft); Dazzling Diamonds glitter (SU); Copic markers

CSAYL - Jingle All The Way

Hi!

Welcome to our latest CSAYL challenge! This week, we are being sponsored by Creations By AR. 

They have a wonderful collection of downloadable templates perfect for all your packaging needs. The winner of this week's challenge will receive 2 free templates. For this week, we have been challenged to use a bell on our creations. I chose to work with the Brownie Box template.

To create my package, I first printed the template onto a sheet of white cardstock. I then used a background stamp for my pink diamond and stamped the centre image in gold which was clear embossed.  After scoring and cutting my template, I adhered my box together and used some gold ribbon to tie it at the top. Finally, I stamped my bell image onto some coaster board, coloured it with copics and cut it out, covering it with Glossy Accents. The sentiment on the tag was stamped in Melon Mambo ink and then both tied to the gold bow with some pink crochet twine.

This package was sooooo easy to create and is very cute IRL!! Check out the rest of the teams creations over at CSAYL and make sure you join in the challenge - there are only 3 left for the year after this week!


Supplies
Stamps: Background Basics: Botanicals, Holiday Button Bits, Tiny Treats: Christmas (PTI)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White (PTI)
Ink: Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo (SU); Gold pigment ink
Accessories: Brownie Box template (Creations by AR); clear embossing powder (SU); cropadile; Tiny Tags die set (Cuttlebug); Copics; Glossy Accents (Ranger); pink crochet twine; gold ribbon; coaster board (PTI)

CSAYL - SPAR-KA-LAY!

Hi again,
This week's challenge at CSAYL is sponsored by the wonderful Bugaboo Digi Stamps! 

The challenge is to add as much sparkle as you can to your card - glitter, stickles, bling - as long as its sparkly! I chose to work with the image - Ted Christmas Ornaments digi. I also decided to enter this into the  CR84FN40 Challenge - the colours are gorgeous!!

I printed my image onto some rustic cream cardstock and coloured him in with Copics. I added some sparkle to my image by using glitter on his hat. The bottom edge of my main panel was run through my Cuttlebug with my Swiss Dots folder and then adhered to a layer of Kraft cardstock. Some Pure Poppy twill ribbon was tied just above the dotted section. I stamped my sentiment on a tag that was die cut with my Tiny Tags die using Chocolate Chip ink. This was attached to my ribbon with some linen thread. The edges of my cream layer were also dipped in glitter after adding some glue with my two way pen. To finish off the bling, I added some silver rhinestones above the ribbon before adhering to my Pure Poppy base.

Now let's see what sparkly creations you can create - simply link your card or project to the CSAYL blog this week. Check out the rest of the design team's creations for some inspiration too!

Supplies
Stamps: Ted Christmas Ornaments digi (Bugaboo Stamps); Holiday Button Bits (PTI)
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Kraft, Rustic Cream (PTI)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU)
Accessories: Pure Poppy twill ribbon (PTI); Swiss Dots embossing folder, Tiny Tags die set (Cuttlebug); silver rhinestones (Kaisercraft); Dazzling Diamonds glitter, two way glue pen (SU)

CSAYL - Seeing Spots

We have a fun challenge for you over at CSAYL - this week its time to add polka dots to your creation! I LOVE polka dots - I think they are fun but classy at the same time, so I really enjoyed working on this week's challenge card. This week's challenge is sponsored by the wonderful Paper Makeup Stamps and the winner will receive a $15 gift voucher to spend in their store!

I chose to work with a sentiment as my focus on this card and used the All I Want For Christmas Is You sentiment:

I used Rustic Cream card for my base and my main layer. I lightly drew a grid along the bottom of my top layer in pencil and then used this to stamp my individual polka dot from PTI's Round and Round anniversary set along the grid in Real Red ink. The top layer was then run through my Cuttlebug with my Argyle impression plate. I printed my sentiment onto some more Rustic Cream card and die cut it with my Mat Stack 1 die, using Kraft ink to stamp the border from the Mat Stack 1 Collection stamp set around the edge. All edges of my card were inked with my Chamomile tea dye ink. Some blue ribbon was looped above the polka dots and then my die cut was popped up on dimensionals on top of this. I added a couple of strips of pearls above my ribbon and also some punched snowflakes using Rustic Cream and Real Red card.

 I drew another grid on my inide layer and stamped my polka dots around all the edges. A smaller piece of Rustic Cream was layered on top and my sentiment from Wings of Joy stamped in Bashful Blue ink. Finally I added another strip of blue pearls along the bottom.

I really enjoyed making this card - I have noticed that my style has been evolving into clean and simple, but somethimes its just nice to add a slight vintage look and lots of layers!! Now be sure to check out all the team's cards over at CSAYL and link up your creation for your chance to win the $15 voucher!!

Supplies
Stamps: All I Want For Christmas Is You (Paper Makeup Stamps); Wings of Joy (TE); Round and Round, Mat Stack 1 Collection (PTI)
Cardstock: Rustic Cream (PTI); Real Red (SU)
Ink: Real Red, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake (SU); Chamomile Tea Dye ink (PTI)

Accessories: Mat Stack 1 die, Argyle impression Plate (PTI); blue pearls (Kaisercraft); Snowflake punch (Martha Stewart); blue ribbon, dimensionals

CSAYL - Purple

Hi there!!
I can't believe its Friday already!! Time for this week's CSAYL challenge and this time its to use purple somewhere on your creation! It could be cardstock, ink, bling, buttons etc as long as its somewhere on your card. The sponsor of this week's challenge is Pink Cat Studio:

 

Here is some cool news about Pink Cat Studio. They have just launched a new program available for customers to use - Digi Stamp Designer. You just have to check it out! You can use this program to create and buy your own personalised digital stamps using Pink Cat Studio characters and accessories! I got to use the program this week and had soooo much fun! I created my own stamp for this week's challenge:

I combined a holly image repeatedly with some Christmas baubles. I paper pieced three of the baubles with some Sugar Plum Paper and coloured the rest of the image with Copics. Some silver rhinestones were added for some bling. I added another strip of paper along the bottom of my main layer and then rounded all corners. I used my Scor Pal to score two lines across the top of my panel and adhered some Plum Pudding ribbon above my paper. This was then all mounted on my card base.

On the inside I added another strip of Sugar Plum paper along the bottom and rounded all corners again. I stamped the sentiment from Stampin Up's Snow Swirled set in Plum Pudding ink.

You have a week to link up your creation dover at CSAYL to be in the running for this week's prize - 5 free digis from Pink Cat Studio. Good luck!!

Supplies
Stamps: Personalised stamp - Digi Designer (PCS); Snow Swirled (SU)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Sugar Plum DP (PTI)
Ink: Plum Pudding (PTI)
Accessories: Plum Pudding ribbon (PTI); silver rhinestones (Kaisercraft); Copics; corner rounder; Scor-Pal

CSAYL - Resist The Temptation

Okay, time for another Christmas challenge over at CSAYL and this week is a tough one. Create a card or project with absolutely no stamping!! The challenge is sponsored by A Perfect Presentation and the winner receives a free template of their choice:

The good thing about this for me as it forced me to reach into my stash of rubons and ribbon that I rarely use now and I am happy with the result even though I missed my trusty stamps!

I worked again with the Uptown Takeout template, printing it onto Kraft cardstock. I used some Cristina Re papers to decorate and some pink ribbon from my stash to tie around the box. I used an old Christmas rubon with some white cardstock and then cut it with my 1 1/4" circle punch. I matted this on a Bashful Blue piece punched with my Scallop Circle punch. The edge of the scallop was blinged up with some blue rhinestones and then this was all added to the front of the box with dimensionals.

I punched two small holes through the top with my Crop A Dile and tied more pink ribbon through to hold it together. I used another rubon for my tag with white cardstock and then handcut this out and punched a tiny hole. Some twine was thread through  and around the pink ribbon.

Not your usual Christmas colours but I really loved the pinks and Kraft together and guess the bling makes it look a little more Christmassy.

 Now hop on over to the CSAYL blog to see the rest of the girls' creations and link up your entry for a chance to win!! Only 8 more Christmas challenges to go!!

Supplies
Cardstock: Kraft, Select White (PTI);Bashful Blue (SU); Cristina Re DP
Accessories: Uptown Takeout PDF template (A Perfect Presentation); blue rhinestones (Kaisercraft); pink ribbon; cropadile; dimensionals, 1 1/4" circle punch, Scallop circle punch (SU); rubons (stash); twine (AnnaBelle Stamps)

CSAYL - Clean and Simple

It's the end of the week, so its time for another CSAYL challenge - to create a clean and simple card. This is not an easy task for me as I am always tempted to add something extra each time. But that's what's great about challenges right?

This week's challenge is sponsored by Karber Digital Images and the winner of this week's challenge will receive two free digis. The image that the team is working with this week is Rudolph.

My card looks clean and simple but I just had to go the extra mile. I couldn't help myself - I did some masking and reverse masking.

I first used some scrap cardstock and die cut a circle from it using my largest circle nestability. Then I stamped my Rudolph image in the centre of my main layer and again on another piece of scrap cardstock. I covered my main layer with my diecut scrap and also adhered my scrap Rudolph image over the top of my main image. I used a sentiment stamp to repeatedly stamp my sentiments around my Rudolph image in Kraft ink. When I took away the die cut scrap and the Rudolph mask, I ended up with a circle of sentiments around my image. Finally I coloured Rudolph in with my Copics. 

I stamped my sentiment from Holiday Button Bits in Real Red ink and ran my main layer through my Cuttlebug with my trusty Linen Impression plate. Some Chocolate bakers twine was tied around my  main layer a couple of times and then the layer was adhered to my base. To finish off Rudloph I added some Glossy Accents to his nose for some shine.

On the inside I kept it very simple using the full sentiment stamp for my message:

Now its your turn! Link up your creation to the CSAYL blog for your chance to win this week's prize and check out the rest of the team's cards. I am off to check them out now!

Supplies
Stamps: Rudolph digi (Karber Digital Images); Holiday Button Bits (PTI); Christmas sentiment stamp (unknown)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White (PTI)
Ink: Real Red, Kraft (SU)
Accessories: Circle nestabilility (Spellbinders); Linen impression plate (PTI); Glossy Accents (Ranger); Copics; Chocolate bakers twine (MFT)

CSAYL - Inspiration Photo

Hello!
Last day of our school term - hip hip hooray!!! This term has felt like a particularly long one, so a two week break is well deserved I think. I don't plan to do too much - just catch up with a few friends, clean the house and relax!!!

This week for our CSAYL challenge, we have a new fabulous sponsor - Bugaboo Stamps:

They have a wonderful range of digi stamps for every occasion and you can check out their site here. There will also be two winners chosen this week - one winner will receive a $21 gift certificate to spend over at Bugaboo Stamps and the other winner will have the chance to be a guest designer for us in October. Also this week, the Bugaboo DT are going to join in with our challenge! You can check out their blog here. I chose to work with the Ava and Deacon Christmas - Ho Ho image. For this week's challenge we have a photo to inspire us:

The gorgeous red and green were the first things to catch  my eye so I used this as my colour inspiration for my card.

 I first printed the image onto some white cardstock and also on to my designer papers. I then cut out the letters and hats from my DP and paper pieced them onto my main image. The rest of the image was coloured with copics and some sparkly fluff added . I added another strip of the green paper to one side along with some red striped ribbon. Finally I rounded the corners of the white layer and mounted it on to my white base. The front was finished off by adding some pale green rhinestones.

The inside was kept very simple by stamping my sentiment in Tuxedo Black ink and matting my white layer on some more of the Happy Day paper.

So double the reason to enter this week's challenge - be sure to link up your creation over at the CSAYL blog before next Thursday and while there, check out the team's cards for some more inspiration!

Supplies
Stamps: Ava and Deacon Christmas - Ho Ho digi (Bugaboo Stamps); Holiday Button Bits (PTI)
Cardstock: Select White (PTI); Happy Day DP (SEI); green DP (unknown)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Sparkly Fluff (TE); rhinestones (Kaisercraft); red ribbon (AnnaBelle Stamps); corner rounder punch

CSAYL - Teacher's Pet

Over at CSAYL this week, the challenge is to create a card for a teacher. The winner of this week's challenge will win the chance to be a guest designer for one of our future challenges. Here is my card:

I went with a CAS card this week using a cute stocking image from my Tiny Treats: Christmas set which I coloured with copics. These were punched out with 1 1/4 " circle punch. I didn't have a teacher stamp so I printed my sentiment from the computer and drew a frame around for a border. Finally I embossed this layer with my linen impression plate before layering on some Real Red cardstock and adhering to  my Kraft base.

On the inside I used another computer generated sentiment to match the fonts and stamped the snowflake image from Tiny Treats and coloured with a copic marker. I added another frame, embossed with my linen impression plate and matted the layer on some Real Red cardstock.

Check out the other ladies' gorgeous projects over at the CSAYL blog and don't forget Christmas is creeping up so why not link up your creation too!

Supplies
Stamps: Tiny Treats: Christmas (PTI)
Cardstock: Kraft, White (PTI); Real Red (SU)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Linen impression plate (PTI); 1 1/4" circle punch (SU); copics; dimensionals, black pen