Final week at Unstampabelles

This is the final week for you get those 'Thank You' cards submitted to Unstampabelles. There's also a twist added if you want to use it and that is to look outside of you window and be inspired by something that you can see. This was my inspiration......

It is a fabulous Eagle Owl which paid us a visit recently. It sat on the top of the chair in the gazebo for ages. We were able to get really close to it to take photographs, which seemed strange, but even stranger was the fact it was there during the day because as you know owls are nocturnal creatures. Isn't it a stunner!! How lucky were we!! It came back the following day but then disappeared and we haven't spotted it again.

This my 'Thank You' card......

I embossed some plain white card stock and added a lovely tree image with some owls perched on the branches......not sure where it's from sorry. The sentiment.....'Just To Say' ...is from a CD ....it could be Debbi Moore Shabby Chic not sure... sorry. The  'Thanks a million' sentiment has been in my stash for eons, so again not sure where it's from. So a quick and easy card to make using the view from my window as inspiration.

There's been  some fab entries so far but if you get your skates on you could still be in with a chance of winning a fab prize from Susan. It's a gift voucher for Stamping Up products to the value of
 $25(Australian). The only other little rule is not to use stamps anywhere in your design because this is UNstampabelles.

Make a Tag card with Christine

Good Morning lovely bloggers. You seemed to enjoy last time's challenge at CD Sunday, 'Animal Antics'. There were some fun images and I know Jenny's going to have a difficult task choosing a winner!! This time it's Christine's turn and she's challenged us to make a Tag card 6" x 3". I think I was still in the 'Animal Antics' mode when I chose my image.

 It's from the 'Crazy Cats' CD by Card Creations Plus and the artwork is by Lynda Ravenscroft. I used brfight yellow card stock for the base and matted a pale green card stock on top. I then cut and shaped the image into a tag shape. I had just received some bright yellow ric rac braid from a fellow crafter and it matched perfectly with the main card stock. The three flowers bottom right have been in my stash since I began crafting eons ago and may have been a gift too. The green gingham and flower finished it off.
 This pussy looks very sad and the water droplets falling from the daffodil looked like tears to me. I found the sentiment 'Sad to see you go' in my stash and I felt that it suited the image perfectly. So I'm giving this card to a friend who is leaving the island shortly and loves cats.

I hope you find time to pop over to CD Sunday (link in sidebar) and see the tags that the rest of the team have created. So get those CD's out and start creating a tag. The only stipulations are that you use something from a CD and the tag is 6" x 3". The winner will receive a crafty gift from Christine.

Challenges:
tagyoureitchallenge....make a tag

'Once Upon a Time'

It's for an new challenge over at Ooh La La. This time Allison has chosen the theme 'Once Upon a Time' It was my choice last time and there were some fab entries. It's been difficult choosing but I've enjoyed reading all those inspiring words. Thank you to all who took part. My choice will be posted on the challenge page soon.

This is my card for this time's challenge. I used the OLL CD Nursery Times.

The designer paper and lace border and image came from the CD . The strap line greetings are from my stash. I thought this would make a perfect 'Get Well'/'Thinking of you' card for a child.

If you pop over to OLL Challenges (click on link in sidebar) you will see some fab inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

Have fun!!

Midway 'Thank You' with the Belles

We are half way through the month already......where do the days go? Unstampabelles challenge this month is to create a Thank You card inspired by the view from your window. My inspiration came from the unexpected covering of snow we got here last week.....not much but it was snow. So with is in mind I went for an all white card using a design I had seen on Pinterest.....not sure who pinned it tho sorry. This is the tiny bit of snow I saw from my window.

  

I can hear those who are snowbound laughing but we were excited!!! Below is my Thank You card.

I ran the background card though the cuttlebug using a floral embossing folder. Then drew a curved line and cut the card in two halves. This gap was replaced with a plain piece of card where I put the Thanks letters. These were cut from dies in the Bug. I outlined the curved shape with flat backed pearls and added a diecut butterfly.

I'm sure you'll agree this is a lovely challenge and I look forward to seeing where you live and what view has inspired you. Susan is providing a gift voucher of $25 (Australian) as a prize for the lucky winner. It's for Stampin' Up products and note that it will include the postage to where-ever the winner lives as well. So what are you waiting for pop over to Unstampabelles and be inspired by the creations of the rest of the Design Team.

Keep warm!!.....or cool if you're in the Southern hemisphere.

'Animal Antics' with Jenny

Good Morning from a very, very cold Cyprus. We are having very unusual weather here. It is bitterly cold and we even had a covering of snow earlier in the week.

Jenny has chosen a fun theme for you over at CD Sunday (link in my sidebar). It is Animal Antics and this one is sure to make you smile. I chose a lovely image from the Pollyanna Pickering Christmas Moments CD by Creative Crafting. The card was made for my Grandson's Christmas card,as he's crazy about dogs.

The main card is cream A4 card stock folded to make an A5 card. I printed off the layout and embellishments from the CD. I wouldn't as rule have put purple and blue together but it seems to work. The ribbon strips from the CD were added to the side strip to lift it a little......if you know what I mean. I then added sparkly gold peel off stars to the purple strip. The sentiment was also from the CD. The image was irresistible. I can hear those carol singing dogs howling!!! So cute!!

So if you want to see more cards to make you smile pop over to CD Sunday and take a peep at the creations from the rest of the team. Don't forget to use something from a CD in your creation. It doesn't have to be a card it could be anything e.g ATC's, tags, altered notebooks, gift bags etc. Jenny will have a gift for the winner. So off you go and hunt out those cute animal images and take part in this challenge to bring a smile to us all.

Have fun and keep warm if it's cold in your part of the world and enjoy the sunshine if your' down under'.

'Words to Inspire'

Good Morning everyone and a Happy New Year to you all. It's Wynn here from sunny Cyprus with my second post for the New Year and it's my honour to start off the 2015 challenges at Ooh La La.

I have chosen' Words to Inspire'. At this time of the year many words are spoken of love and encouragement for a better year ahead. It was with this in mind that I chose the theme. When you pop over to Ooh La La Challenges you will see that the design team have created some fabulous cards with some very thought provoking words to inspire you.

I created my card from the Ooh La La CD  'Say it with Words'. This CD is fabulous with a vast number of inspiring thoughts that you can choose from and the art work is wonderful.

 

I began with a piece of A4 card stock and shaped it using a dinner plate as a template. I went for a rounded shape to reflect the circle punches. The DP, the image and sentiment are all  from the same CD. I punched out scalloped circles in co-ordinated blues. I added a strip of pale blue DP across the centre adding some broad lace across to soften it, reflecting the lace of the butterfly's wings.. The two yellow wooden butterflies are cut off some ribbon that had beads etc. on it. I got it from Lidls', not too long ago.

 

These are the thought provoking words.

 

"A butterfly came flying by

And I thought I knew her face

She landed on my shoulder

And spread her wings of lace.

 

I looked and saw her smiling

And she winked and flew away

I'm sure I heard her whisper

We'll meet again one day"

 

Some people do say that butterflies are the souls of dear departed loved ones. Whatever you believe I think these words would bring comfort and inspiration.

 

There are some wonderful inspiring quotes over at Ooh La La so take a peep. I look forward to visiting your blogs and reading the inspiring words that you have used for your creations.

 

 

 

 

'Thank you'

 Happy New Year from the me and the Belles, Unstampabelles that is!! I hope it will be a healthy and peaceful one for you all. Where did Christmas go and for that matter  where did 2014 go. Didn't it whizz by? I hope you all got the pressies that were on your Wish List . With this is mind we are thinking about Thank You's for all those lovely pressies that you did receive.

 My trip to Vienna was my best present from my OH. We had a wonderful time but sadly no snow. We really wanted it to snow as we never get snow here in Cyprus. Well not 'proper' snow as it's really only sleet. So we were longing for the lovely, crisp white stuff. I know many of you will that's crazy as you're probably knee deep in the stuff at the moment!!!

This months challenge at Unstampabelles is to make a Thank You card with a twist. The twist is to show a view from your window and blog about it. My views here are two fold as one shows the swimming pool and a view of the Medditeranean and the other is our orchard which is full of fruit trees. I chose to show you one of our olive trees from the orchard. The olive branch is also depicted on the national flag of Cyprus to indicate peace. So another reason to choose it.

 The olives here are harvested in October. They say to leave them until after the first rain but we could wait forever sometimes if we have a dry Autumn.

The card is a kit from CUP designed by Valerie Dawes but I have tweaked it a little. It comes with a choice of three window designs. I chose the lattice one which took a bit of cutting out with my craft knife. A slow job but I got there in the end. The original had one flowerpot on the window sill but I wanted to show the window open so I made two matching pots with white card and added the provided decoupage flowers and placed them at each side. The  'Thank You' sentiment is from a CD but sorry can't remember which one.

These are some of the olives that we harvested. This year's harvest was fantastic and we got 40 litres of olive oil from them. Not too bad for five trees and three of these trees are very young.

 

After harvesting we take them to a local olive press and from there the oil is put into a large container. When it's brought home it's decanted slowly through a filter and then the oil is left to settle. This is a bottle from last year's yield as the new oil is still being kept in the dark until it's ready.

 

 

 

So that's my take on a Thank You card with a twist for Unstampabelles. Susan will be providing a  prize for the winner to the value of $25 (Australian dollars). It's a gift voucher for Stampin' Up products and note that it will include the postage to where-ever the winner lives as well. So off you pop to Unstampabelles and see the views and creations my teamies have to offer. We all live in different parts of the World so there are a lovely array of views for you.  

 

Have fun creating your Thank You card. I look forward to visiting you and look forward to seeing where in the world you live.