Three Challenges in One!

Hey!

Well the Bank Holiday is nearly over :o( we had some fab weather; so fab that I couldn't justify spending too much time in my crafty corner so I've been out and about walking around the beautiful Peak District. I always feel a tinge of guilt that I have this breathtaking scenery right on my front doorstep and never seem to appreciate it enough!

So today the weather is more typical of a Bank Holiday, dull and slightly rainy LOL! Oh well, it gives me the perfect excuse to bury myself away in my crafty corner and get creative. My mojo has been lacking recently, I'm not sure why but I'm really struggling to come up with ideas! Fortunately for me though, the amazingly awe-inspiring Kate helped kick the mojo into gear with her Inspirations and Themes challenge over on the ILWS forum. I found it very easy to get inspiration from this pic:
The colours are sooooooo me and that pattern is divine! I decided to take the colours as my inspiration starting point, (I've not got any leafy/flowery stamps - a gap in my crafting stash that I 'must' fill soon!)

Next for the layout: I came across this sketch on Taylored Expressions and loved it! I knew then exactly which stamp I could christen with this sketch - yup another stamp I HAD to have but haven't used yet!

Finally over on A Passion For Paptertrey, I checked out the new challenge which was to use recycled bits n bobs on a card (as well as at least one PTI product of course!)

So with the whole card practically designed for me, that left me with the sole job of piecing it together. Here's what I came up with!I hope you like it! I know I know it's yet another bird themed stamp but I'm just loving the bird theme at the mo, I'm sure I'll change onto something else real soon! (Apologies for the dull pics, the weather just isn't complimenting my photography today LOL!)
The recycled elements involve most of the card - all of the paper/card are from cut-offs apart from the grey which I found while rooting through my paper/card file. In fact it's so recycled that the scalloped piece of card covers lots of joins as the pieces of card I had to play with weren't quite long enough! Even the ribbon was from some choccies - the choccies, needless to say, are now long gone!I don't own a scalloped edge border punch (Yet!), so I had to trim a piece of card and then, using one edge of a rectangular scalloped nestie, run it through my cuttlebug. I'm kinda impressed at the result, though I still think I need to purchase a border punch as I love scalloped edges!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Penny Black - Birds on a Wire, PTI - Around & About Sentiments
Ink: Versamagic Chalk Ink - Jumbo Java
Card: Card Designer Cropping Block - Grey, PTI - Ripe Avocado Bitty Dot Basics, Dark Chocolate
Accessories: Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, Ribbon (From Choccies), Basic Grey Buttons, Tim Holtz Brads

On a final note, if you haven't already clicked the link to the super talented Kate, why not may I ask?!? If you do you're in for a treat as she has some D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S Blog Candy to tempt you with! I'm not kidding, I don't normally enter blog candy giveaways as I stuggle enough to store what I have but even I couldn't resist the temptation on this giveaway LOL!

Go on, you know you want to LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by, I really appreciate it!
Catch ya later!

Aimes
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