Darnell's NBUS Challenge #8

Welcome back! How have you all been? You know it's nearly 2 years since I started my blog. February 2015 to be precise. I've learnt a lot since then and I'd like to think my card making and blogging has improved.... I hope anyway!

Two years is nothing compared to Darnell who has racked up 5 years, 1,000 blog posts and 1,000 followers. Amazing huh? So to celebrate she has opened up her NBUS challenge which I love to enter. I have plenty of NBUS so it really helps me....

This cute Birdie Brown stamp was part of the My Favorite Things gift card I won and spent back in October. These are just perfect to colour in. I simply stamped her onto some Neenah and coloured her in with my Copic markers.

If you read my post from last week, you'll see I'm still in melonizing mode and coloured her in appropriate colours - avoided the pips on the hat though as I was worried I might ruin it.

She's simply mounted on an A2 white card base with an MFT stitched frame (from a friend) in one of my Lawn Fawn plaid papers. 

Here is a list of the supplies used on this card. I have signed up to affiliate links on some products (currently only Simon Says Stamp). If you purchase any item after clicking on an affiliate link, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps in a small way to support the running of my blog and is very much appreciated, thank you!

MFT Adventure Is Calling

*Neenah Classic Crest **110 LB** SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE Paper Pack 25 Sheets

Memento Tuxedo Black

Copic Markers

Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Christmas 6x6 Pad

InLinkz.com

So I'm entering this at Darnell's NBUS #8 and hope I can get some more NBUS used up for #9 next week. I do hope you'll think about entering. Darnell is a wonderfully kind crafty blogger and she's giving away some amazing prizes too.

Thank you as always for stopping by and for your lovely comments! Have a great week - and try not to get too excited by all the goodies on show at CHA in Phoenix Arizona. I've seen a sewing machine that sews with Baker's Twine I would love to get my hands on!

NBUS #7 - Using my Fuseable papers at last!

Hello, hello! Well we have returned from holiday and are getting back into the swing of things before school starts up again - the holidays have gone remarkably quickly. The Colouring Challenge ended at the start of August, but another of my favourite challenges, Darnell's NBUS [Never Before Used Schtuff] started on 27th and I finally got round to having a play with some of my NBUS. It's amazing what you can amass quite quickly!

My sister asked me if I could make a wedding card for her to give to a couple who are getting married soon. I decided now would be a great time to crack out my as yet unused Fuseable Papers. This is plastic paper that you can use with your Fuse tool for scrapbooking and card making.

I really loved it - it does melt and bond beautifully. I started by making a shaker pocket with a cheap plastic folder around the image I'd previously coloured as part of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge. I cut out some hearts from the paper and fused them onto the front. You do need to make sure you have a piece of paper in between the pocket sides when doing this otherwise the pocket will also Fuse together :). I then filled it with Sparkling Coral shaker selection from Lucy's Cards (it's now discontinued). I sealed it up and then got on with sealing it onto the Fuseable paper.

I took three sizes of squares, bigger than my shaker pocket and simply melted the plastic through the layers as you can tell by the photograph. It works well through two layers. The back layer I fused through the green spotty paper. It feels very secure.

I stuck the panel onto my card base with some strong double sided tape.

Below is a list of materials I used to make this card. Please note I DO NOT USE affiliate links :) 

Lawn Fawn Mermaid for You	Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black	WHSmith Watercolour Paper 12 Sheets - Art, Craft and Hobbies	Hobbycraft Clear Acrylic Stamping Blocks 2 pack	WRMK Photo Sleeve Fuse Tool	We R Memory Keepers - FUSEables Paper - Sweetheart	We R Memory Keepers - FUSEables Paper - Confetti	Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper - 1/4 and 1/2 inch
Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolour Sketcher's Pocket Box Paint

InLinkz.com

I am so thrilled I finally used this, so thank you Darnell as it's got me using my Fuse again as I hadn't had it out for a while. I'm mulling over some other ideas for using this paper and have been looking for some standalone dies like butterflies and hearts as I think they would work brilliantly on the front of shakerpockets.

I hope you'll feel inspired to have a go at giving your NBUS some love - don't let it sit all alone on the shelf and link it up below:

NBUS #6 - A Clearly Besotted Pirate Party

Wow! What can I say? I'm not kidding when I tell you I've been bowled over by all your positive comments on my first ever card making video. I do indeed plan on making some more, and you'll be the first to know when one is on its way :)

On to my card! I've been following Darnell for a while now and I love her witty style - the exploits of her 'hamsters' is a hilarious addition to a craft blog. She is incredibly kind and also very talented. Twice a year she runs a challenge known as NBUS - Never Before Used Schtuff - in which she encourages all us hoarders crafters to use all that stuff we've had for ages but never used. I don't have a huge amount yet, but it's growing, so my Lenten buying ban has been rather good at halting this for the time being.

We're already on day 9 of 10, so I took the opportunity to finish up a card I started the other day, using one of my Clearly Besotted sets that I hadn't inked up yet. Shameful!

Those Pirates! I took inspiration from one of my favourite Tintin stories, The Secret of the Unicorn (please don't mention the film, it wasn't a patch on the original works!). I also took inspiration from Kathy Racoosin's first post for the Colouring Challenge - I absolutely love the telescopic look you get from the different layers.

I started out by stamping three images from the Pirate Party set and two birds from Some Birdie Loves You. I coloured them in with Copics (you might have seen it on IG). I then fussy cut them out - I do actually enjoy it!

I then scrabbled around in my scrap box for various shades of green and die cut out several branches from my Concord and 9th Take A Bough die - I only made one little tree last year so it's nice it's being put to good use - and chopped them down to size, and to remove the holes.

I took three pieces of white card stock and die cut three circles from the centre, each of a different size.

Onto a white card base, I adhered some blue polka dot paper from my Lawn Fawn Let's Polka pad to make it look like water. I adhered the treasure chest onto it and three bits of 'seaweed' onto the back of my first aperture and then stuck it on top.

The next two apertures were stuck on with foam tape, as were the pirates, with some of the 'leaves' glued on top to hide them. I added the birds on with sticky red tape and two more leaves on the underside of the top bird. I decided the sentiment should go on the inside.

I've decided to trial using InLinkz for my product lists to save some time. I'm hoping it will make things easier for us both :) Please note I DO NOT use affiliate links. If this ever changes, I will let you know.

InLinkz.com

So I'm linking this up to NBUS #6 on account of the Pirates. I also noticed that the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is about adding a Bit O' Green to your cards and Clearly Besotted, so I'm linking it up to that too.

I loved doing this card - I really love the dimensional nature of it and building that scene.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all continue to have a great week.