merry and (neon) bright

Hey!

I hope you're having a lovely weekend. I've just had a sweet morning stamping in my PJs, playing with new goodies I purchased from a lovely day out at a craft fair with my mum. Bliss!

However, something I stamped and die-cut a while back is today's creation for the brand new Clearly Besotted Stamps Challenge.
 

For the final challenge of the year, it couldn't be any simpler or more fitting. The challenge is Christmas. C'mon I'm pretty sure that most of you have started your Christmas crafting by now. If you haven't, then this is the perfect time to start!

For my card, I decided to focus on set Building Blocks. I've got a thing going on at the moment with decorating die-cut letters in various ways (see my glittered letters here). So I figured we'd have a little fun with the sentiment 'merry and bright' and inject a bit of trendy neon in there too. :)

• It can be tricky stamping on tiny die-cut letters, so make it easier for yourself and stamp first on a piece of card and then die cut the letters from it after. Be sure to secure dies with a post it or masking tape to ensure the die sits nicely and you end up with no wonky patterned letters!
• To help and maintiain a festive feel, I used pink and green neon inks. It's a more bright, fun version of the traditional red and green colour combo.
• Pretty obvious here, but the neon ink helps to emphasise the word 'bright'. Keeping the other letters in grey helps in emphasising the 'bright' too. :) 

We'd love for you to join in the festive fun. Be sure to check out all the deets, including the rest of the CBS DT's awesome take on the Christmas challenge, over at the CBS blog - aka, Stephanie's!

Right, off to get those boring chores done now...why do weekends pass by so quickly?

Products Used

InLinkz.com

Moxie Fab Blog Hop

Hey!

Welcome to one truly special, one in a blog-time, blog hop full of awesomeness for one extremely special lady. Yes, welcome to the Moxie Fab Thanks Blog Hop.

You should have hippety hopped over here from Daniela Dobson. If you haven't, be sure to start the mega blog hop here. :)

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you'll have heard the news that the one and only, Miss Moxie Fab herself, Cath Edvalson is moving on to pastures new. Cath is the personification of this wonderful paper crafting community. She represents everything there is to admire and love about it. She's there with words (or pictures!) of encouragement, a personal cheerleader for us all, and always helping us grow as designers. She has had way more of a positive impact on me then she'll ever know, and I'll be grateful, always. Cath, you are AMAZING! :D

Now it's beyond sad to see Cath leave, but this blog hop is about celebrating an amazing and wonderful woman. So I may be breaking the mold, but I wanted to create a celebratory card in the spirit of the hop. I had to try my best to give this card a Moxie Fab feel so kept it trendy with neon embossing and arrows (cut from the Southwest cartridge using my Cricut Mini). I also took a step outside of my comfort zone (something that Cath has constantly inspired me to do) and experimented with using two different coloured neon embossing powders on one sentiment for an ombre effect (another trend!)

Right, before I well up, that's enough babbling from me; there's so much hopping and inspiration to be be seen! Next on your hopping adventure is Sylvia Blum. Happy hopping, and happy weekend! :)

One stamp set, three cards...

Hey!

Are you ready for it? Bonfire Night? Well true, it is the time for bonfires and fireworks galore but the new, November release from Clearly Besotted Stamps is almost here too! From midnight the new products are available for purchase. :)

For today's post, I took one stamp set to give you a sneaky peek of. One stamp set that I just couldn't put down. Even though it's not marketed as a set for Christmas, my mojo and brain can't think of anything to create for any other season and it's risen to the occasion in style. Geometric style that is! 'Geometric Style' is a set that is going to be on my desk all year. Fact.

The first card of three today features a bit of holiday, argyle-inspired stamping. Think cosy, woolly jumpers (sweaters). I love that clear stamps makes pattern building a breeze and this pattern was inked up and stamped in no time. :)

So from argyle to a poinsettia. You may have noticed earlier on that poinsettias are becoming a bit of a theme of my holiday stamping. I saw a poinsettia as soon as I laid eyes on the diamond shapes in the set. The hardest part was choosing which diamond design to ink up for the petal and leaves!

I don't think polka dot poinsettias actually exist, but I'm adopting an artistic license on this one. :)

Diamonds don't just create modern-style, polka-dot poinsettias either. How about a snowflake?

I love the crackled effect that features on the shapes in this set. It reminded me so much of frost and ice, which then inspired me to create a snowflake. The intricate design reminds me so much of the similar intricacies you can find when you look closely at a snowflake. :)

• Simply change the colours of the first card to create a masculine card for any other occasion. To make it authentic argyle, be sure to add fine lines over the diamonds with a fine-line pen! 
• To add more interest to my modern poinsettia, I outlined the design with a gold marker. It adds an extra finishing touch and ties in nicely with the gold sequin. Be sure to use a ruler when doing this and make sure any gold lines are dry before placing a ruler over them (Go on, ask me how I know that...Yup, I smudged a few of these poinsettias but finally got a smudge-free version done!)
• I used a Marvy Blending Blox inkpad in shades of blue for my snowflake. The darker shades in the centre help to draw your eye to the sentiment. 

If you've made it this far - thanks for sticking with the project-heavy post! Remember: all goodies previewed here and on the CBS blog will be available for purchase from midnight tonight. Be sure to check out what my CBS teamies are sharing by checking out the CBS blog too!

Right, time to skedaddle. For those of you celebrating Bonfire Night tonight - enjoy it safely! I may treat myself to a bit of bonfire toffee tonight...love that stuff, even if my teeth won't! *wink*