Unstampabelles #17 - Monochromatic (No Stamps)

Great to see all your wonderful recylcing/repurposing ideas last month.  CD's, paint chips, paper bags, packaging, serviettes, muffin containers and wallpaper just to name a few of the items used.  The Design Team really enjoyed visiting and seeing your fun creations.

It took a lot of narrowing down to just one creation to showcase this month.  

The Design Teams Favourite for the recycle challenge is:

27 Filharmonica

Hasn't Filharmonica done a wonderful job on making a brown paper bag look beautiful.  Other recycled items on this card are lace, string, buttons and coffee napkins or doilies.  Please visit blog 'Filharmonicas kreative verden' to see more of her terrific work.

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A little more excitement.......time to announce the winner of our randomly drawn prize donated by Craftmad.  The winner is:

31 Lyla (12 years)

Random numbers generated Nov 4 2012 at 16:15:2 by www.psychicscience.org 

Lyla please email Merry with mailing details for your prize.

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Now to move onto why you came to our blog. 

Challenge #17 - Monochromatic

(mon.o.chro.mat.ic Adjective: Containing or using only one colour.)

Any form of paper creation will be accepted as long as NO STAMPS (Digital or Rubber) have been used.

IDEAS: quilling, parchment, stickers, boxes, books, cards, scrap pages, etc
You can find our rules here for further information.

Our sponsor this month is Cardmaking Online which is an Australian online only business - by not having a retail store, they avoid significant costs such as rent and electricity which enables them to bring you quality products at the lowest possible prices.  They have a wonderful range of cardmaking kits, dies, peel-off stickers, parchment craft materials and much more. 

Cardmaking Online is sponsoring us with a $25.00 gift certificate as our prize for this months challenge.

Inspiration from our talented Design Team

Sarah went with shades of grey and white for her card.   She has used a pre-printed punch-out sentiment, silver brads and grey and white twine.

Susan had a play with acetate for the front of this card.  Although Susan created the rolled roses from the same sheet of paper (shades of green) one rose has turned out bluer that the others.  Die cut leaves, pearls and rub-on sentiments finish this lovely creation.

Cathy learnt this technique of using lace punches and stringing them together a few years ago.  Great seeing old techniques used again.  Cardstock and papers used in this card are all 

purples shades. The paper that looks white is actually a pale pink pearl paper. Ribbon has been woven in an out of the lace punched shapes and pearls added to the centres.

Another card from Cathy....aren't these the cutest cat faces.  Cathy has created them with paper punched hearts and circles.  The card is make up of shades of pink cardstock (Stampin Up) and the sentiment is a rub-on.

JanR created this monochromatic card in shades of brown using her 

Silhouette Cameo cutting machine.  Cutting the tree image out of the newsprint paper and then backing it with the brown cardstock.  An embossing folder was used along the bottom of the card and then a ribbon, button and string attached.

Please welcome JessicaT again to our Design Team.....this is her first contribution to our challenge inspiration.  What a way to start with this shades of gold.  JessicaT has used patterned papers, satin krush ribbon, a brass charm tied on with twine.  Alpha stickers were used for the sentiment.

Lauren has used this wonderful photo to help her create this monochromatic scrap page in 

shades of red. Lauren has painted the chipboard word red and used her rolled flower die for the first time.  As you can see in the section next to the heart this is a wonderful way to use up your extra bits and bobs you wouldn't normally find a use for.

Merry has relied on her Stampin Up papers and cardstock to help her create this monochromatic card in shades of green.  She has cut squares of Design Paper into 3cm squares and attached.  Merry has used her Cheery Lynn Butterfly die for the first time.  Firstly she drew around the outline of the die and hand cut this out and ran it through the Lattice embossing folder then cut the green butterfly with the die.  Added the bling and the rub-on sentiment.

Blue Monochrome from Susan

This beautiful Christmas card is from Susan one of our DT (her blog).  What a wonderful way to create a monochromatic (all shades of the same colour) card.  Susan has used Co'Ordinates cardstock which she ran through a SU embossing folder then embossed to reveal another shade of blue. Cut the embossed panel into three and attached to the front of the card.  Then added some bling and a ribbon and a small stamped sentiment....which we do allow.  However we do like stamp sentiments kept to a minimum as you will see in our rules here.

You can enter your monochromatic paper creations here you have until Friday, 30th November.

Half-way Inspiration Post for Monochromatic Challenge #17

Wow, so many wonderful entries already in our Monochromatic Challenge #17.  I really thought that we would struggle with entries for this theme but you have proved me wrong.  You are all willing to take up the challenge.  Can't wait to see what the second half of this month brings.  You can enter here.

Here are a few more monochromatic creations from the design team to inspire you.

Isn't this such a pretty Christmas card from JanR.  JanR has used the Poinsettia die from Spellbinder and glittery Thickers.  Be sure to visit JanR's blog to find out more about this card.

Cathy has been busy too with her metallic papers which were hand embossed and then hand cut. The flowers are paper punched and bling added to the centre.  Another beautiful card....again be sure to check out Cathy's blog here.

Merry has created this Christmas card by dragging out all the green Bazzill cardstock she owns.  Cut into 1cm wide strips then cut into the shape of a Christmas Tree.  Added a star sticker and sentiment.

Now it's time for your entries to be in the draw for our prize.

A $25.00 gift certificate from

Email entry from Gloria

Gloria's first ever attempt at Monochrome.

Email entry from Patricia

Patricia's card for our Monochromatic Challenge.

Patricia says - "this is one I made with my spellbinder dies, having a lot of fun using these dies at present."

Half Way Inspiration

Here are some wonderful creations from the Design Team to inspire you for our current Challenge #16 - Recycle or Repurpose.  They use Cereal Boxes, Packaging, Wine Bottle Lables, CD's and Can Labels.

From JanR - recycled items are scrappy packaging (the back of the leaf shaker) and cereal box (misted, crimped panel) 

Susan has used a wine bottle label on this card, the sentiment is a sticker.

Cathy has recycled a CD & Stickers

On this beautiful card Cathy has recycled CD & paper tole & stickers.

Merry used labels from the cans of her beetroot to create these flowers.

Now it's time for you to have a try and enter here into our Recycle or Repurpose Challenge.

Remember there is a wonderful prize to be won from our terrific sponsor Craftmad. 

Gloria's third email entry

Gloria is back again with her third and final entry for our recycle challenge.

Yes, you are allowed to enter three times here at Unstampabelles.

Gloria has repurposed the DVD on this card.

Email Entry from Trish

This wonderful easel card entry is from Trish this is how she made it:

The 70 years in the making comes from a box my husband got for his birthday with a mug in it. the piece across the front is from a bit of paper that was laying on my table lol.

Welcome to Jessica - Design Team member

Can everyone help us welcome Jessica to the Unstampabelles Design Team.

Jessica has kindly said that she would like to be part of our team for a couple months.   Even though she has three little girls to keep her busy and a couple of other Design Teams.

You can see Jessica's beautiful work here on her blog Bits and Pieces and soon our next challenge.

Jessica has been part of our challenges on a number of occasions and here are some of her previous entries.

Challenge #14 - Paper Flowers

Challenge #13 - Celebrations

Challenge #9 - Easter

Challenge #7 - Anything Goes

Unstampabelles #3 - Animals

Challenge #2 - Wheels

Glad to have you on the team Jessica.

Second Email Entry from Gloria

Yes, Gloria is liking this challenge and came up with a second card. 

Comments from Gloria.

Hearts and flower are made out of serviettes....and leaves are plastic given to me from Mum......n who knows how many years she had them for.....lol lol

Email Entry from Gloria

Gloria has taken the plunge as this is the first time she has entered her card into any online challenge.  

Edited to add a photo of the entire card....

'Made with Aluminium Foil.'

Prize Winners for Unstampabelles Challenge #15

Hi everyone, thanks for being so patient waiting for the results for our last challenge #15.  Once again a terrific turn out with 45 wonderful embossed entries.  The Design Team thought long and hard and have decided that their favourite for the Embossing Challenge is the very elegant entry from Jenny H.  Jenny is a regular in our challenges and always puts together an amazing card in a Clean and Simple (CAS) style.  Please be sure to visit Jenny's blog to find out more about this pretty creation and see more of her cards.

Design Team Favourite - Jenny H

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Now it is time for the random draw of all the entries to discover our winner of the fantastic prize pack from Sticker Store.

29 - Michelle (whirligig)

Random numbers generated Oct 2 2012 at 10:56:7 by www.psychicscience.org

Michelle, please email Merry with mailing details for your prize.

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You will find our latest challenge #16 - Recycling or Repurposing here.
If you happen to have read this yesterday it is worth visiting this post again as I have edited and added more Design Team creations.

Unstampabelles Challenge #16 - Recycled or Repurposed (No Stamps)

A terrific response to our Embossing challenge with more than 40 entries.  Thanks to everyone for sharing your wonderful creations. As part of the Design Team I know that I enjoyed visiting and seeing all the different embossing folders that have been used.  Some have been added to my wish list.

This month we will be doing things just a little differently.  We will give you all the details to the new challenge now and be back in on Tuesday to let you know the winners of the September Challenge.

Challenge #16 - Recycling or Repurposing 

(No Stamps)

During our first birthday celebrations we asked what had been your favourite challenge over the past year and our Recycling Challenge #8 was the hands down winner.  So we have decided to give you another go at Recycling and Repurposing.

Any form of paper creation will be accepted as long as NO STAMPS (Digital or Rubber) have been used.

IDEAS: quilling, parchment, stickers, boxes, books, cards, scrap pages, etc
You can find our rules here for further information.

Our sponsor this month is the fun Crafting Forum - CraftMad

Although Craftmad is based in Australia they are open to International members too....it is free to become a member.  Once a member you can join in the monthly crafting swaps - cards, sewing and quilt blocks.  Also be inspired by the monthly sketch challenges for cards and scrapbooking.  There is also a sketch challenge for Christmas All Year.  There is always lots of friendly and helpful chatter and many inspiring projects posted in the Gallery area.

Prize from Craftmad

Before we go on to the Design Team creations it's time for us to say goodbye to Stacie.  Stacie is stepping down from the Design Team after 13 months of wonderful creations and taking time to comment on entries.  You will still see Stacie floating around blogland and if you visit her blog you will see a post from her from time to time.

Now here are some ideas from the Design Team on what you could recycle or repurpose for your paper creation.

JanR has recycled a couple of paperclips on this awesome Halloween card.

Lauren has taken an old hot chocolate container and turned it into a very useful paint brush holder using leftover paper scraps.

Merry - liked an idea of using a cereal box that Lauren used on her card last month for Unstampabelles.  Merry's embossed background is cardboard from a Cornflakes box.  The flowers are made of paper from a paper bag that she saved from her trip to Japan.  The stems and leaves are made of kitchen twine which was coloured with Copic Pens.  

Sarah - repurposed lace that she found in a thrift store, the bird (which is from the packaging on some gift wrap), the background is from a card that went wrong and had been living in Sarah's stash for a few months.  The sentiment is cut out from the cover of an old notebook.

Susan has used die cuts, some she made and others bought. A wine label carefully removed from the bottle (empty), a piece of cord from a clothing label. The card itself is a piece of folded packing card.  Susan was trying to create a mystery story on the front of her card.

Cathy is showing on her card how you can recycle in the craft room.  The bears were leftover from a previous card.  Cathy has used two different yellow offcuts, sentiment is a rub-on and the ribbon is the last on the spool.

Wet and Dry Embossing Idea

Susan has been busy embossing again. Isn't this a fantastic Halloween card.  Visit Susan's blog as she explains how to use your stencils with embossing powders that is how the wonderful cat was created.

Keep your wonderful ideas coming the DT is enjoying seeing all the different embossed creations.

Our challenge #15 - Embossing closes 28th September

Remember there is a fantastic prize on offer from our sponsor the Sticker Store.

An Email Entry from Patricia

Now this is truly an embossed card.  This is an email entry from Patricia.

A little half way inspiration for our Embossing Challenge

Susan has been busy with her Big Shot, dies and embossing folders to create this beautiful card.

The papers are all Stampin Up, sentiment is a rub-on and the flowers are shop bought.  Find out more detail about this wonderful card here on Susan's blog.

Merry has created the birthday embossed section of this card by arranging chipboard letters on her Cuttlebug 'B' plate then covering with the layer of green craft foil (metal sheeting), then her tan embossing mat, next the 'C' plate.  Ran it through the Cuttlebug and then sanded the embossed letters with an emery board.  Check out Merry's blog for more details.

We have already had some terrific embossed creation entries for our Unstampabelles Challenge #15  However, the Design Team is keen to visit some more amazing creations.

Our embossing challenge runs until 28th September.

Unstampabelles Challenge #15 - Embossing (No Stamps)

Oh wow....you certainly like your paper flowers and we were given so many varieties to look at.  It was terrific to see so many quilled items this month and hope to see more of them in the future.  Thanks so much everyone for joining in the fun of our Paper Flower challenge.  You have given the Design Team a lot of work to do this month just choosing one favourite from 90 entries.  It took a lot of thinking and debating but we have decided on one Design Team Favourite and that is:

Donna 

As you can see, I think, Donna has incorporated every type of paper flower into her wonderful creation.  Please be sure to visit Donna's blog 'Bearly Mine Crafts' to see the list of punches she used to creation this amazing wreath.

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Drum roll please....... the randomly drawn winner of our fantastic prize donated by the Blue Edge Crafts is:

89 Manu 

Random numbers generated Sep 2 2012 at 14:57:2 by www.psychicscience.org  

Manu, please email Merry with mailing details for your prize.

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Challenge #15 - Embossing 

We would like to see all your paper creations using embossing.

Remember no stamps (rubber or digital).  

We have had an amendment to the rule concerning sentiments.  You can read about the change in detail in this post here.  You can read all of our rules here.  This is how the rule reads now:- 

Sentiments - are restricted to the use of, at most, four (4) words only.  The sentiment is not to be the focal point of your creation.  We applaud the use of rub-on's, stickers, punched/diecut letters or handwriting.  Stamps may be used but not encouraged.

This month our fantastic sponsor is Sticker Store.  They have kindly donated a wonderful prize.

The business is located in Adelaide, Australia but their shoppers are from all over the world. Sticker Store have no shops or showrooms to visit so, buying directly on-line from them helps keep their overheads low and the savings get passed on to you.

Plus 10 sheets of acetate which don't show up too well in a photo.

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The Unstamapabelles Design Team have dug out their embossing folders/plates and used some interesting techniques to create their inspirations for you this month.

Cathy has run pearl paper through her embossing folder then brushed the raised sections with gold ink to give this sparkly effect.

Cathy has also shared a clean and simple version on the above card.  Again she has used pearl paper but not added any gold ink and only one layer of cardstock was used.

JanR has used her embossing on some Kraft-Core cardstock and then sanded it to enhance the background of her card.

Lauren has used two different embossing folders on her card creation and has rubbed ink across the raised areas to create this elegant card. Can you believe that the majority of this card was once a cereal box!

Merry has used a technique called Embedded Embossing.  Layer stickers, punched/diecut shapes etc on a piece of cardstock. All the embellishments should be adhered then run it all through your embossing folder and matts them altogether.  Merry has used the animal stickers from the Sticker Store and punched leaves to the scene below.

Sarah has used two different embossing folders for her card.  Then "glazed" the little circles with her clear embossing powder and heat gun.

Stacie has made this wonderful tag using the Shadow Embossing technique. 

For shadow embossing you run your die cuts through your machine with an embossing folder (a random pattern is best like dots) and then shift the paper a little in the folder and run back through. It is hard to see in Stacie's example because she has covered it with glitter! A darker paper with some sanding might look better.

Beth has used a Spellbinder M-bossibilites folder for the background.  The tree is another embossing folder which Beth has used her Copics to colour and added the little punched flowers with pearl centres.

****Remember no stamps (rubber or digital).****