Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Double Trouble!

Isn't this image just tooooooo adorable, I have wanted it for soooooooo long and as I could never find it ..... I ended up ordering it and it arrived on Monday! Of course when I saw the sketch challenge today over at SCS I had to use this image .... it worked so well with it.

I started by stamping the image onto white card and cutting it down to size, layering it onto black and blue bayou card. The top corners of all layers were rounded using the ticket corner punch and I also used my paper piercing mat & guide to create the decoration on the top corners.

I stamped the weave background to the base of the folded white card using sky blue ink and then to the top of this card I added my Basic Grey DP and the thin strip of Blue Bayou. I attached my image to my card using foam tape and added the brads to either side of the image. The verse was stamped in black to the lower right hand corner of the card. I then mounted this whole folded card to another piece of single layered blue bayou for a different look .... this was one of the options for this weeks sketch challenge .... so I decided to go with it seeing it was something I wouldn't normally do!

Recipe:
Stamps: Double Trouble - Whipper Snapper; Weave B/G - Cornish Heritage Farms; Verse Papertrey Ink
Paper: Blue Bayou - SU; White; Black; Snowballs DP from Blitzen Collection - Basic Grey
Other: Black Ink; Sky Blue SU Ink; Paper Piercing Mat & Tool; Ticket Corner Punch; Brads

A Load of Birthday Wishes!

When I saw the color challenge on SCS this week, I knew I had to check my Whipper Snapper stamps for something to use .... and I found this stamp of a front end loader I purchased at one of the recent stamps shows I have attended ... it was perfect for this challenge ... I just needed to tone the blue & yellows down a fraction which was pretty easy to do. This color challenge this week was to use real red, turquoise and so saffron .... scary maybe for some ... but I have used these colors before and of course having this stamp made it even easier.

I have also been trying to get a chance to do Sherry & Jeanne's JBWW sketch challenge they have posted on their blogs this week ....... so I was pretty glad when I knew this image would suit their sketch challenge.

It is pretty hard to tell in the photo, I used flannel plaid and real red ink to stamp the background of the real red panel .... it does show up better in real life. I found 3 brads to match the colors pretty well for the top right corner and stamped my greeting onto a so saffron piece of card and punched out using my large oval punch and attached it to the lower right corner.

I don't have any kids this age to give this to .... so I may end up giving it to my DD in her Christmas pack of cards I give her every year ... her boyfriend has a nephew that this would suit pretty well!


Recipe:
Stamps: Front End Loader - Whipper Snapper; Flannel Plaid - Stampin' Up; Greeting - Papertrey Ink
Paper: Real Red, Turquoise & So Saffron - SU; White
Other: Black Ink; Real Red SU Ink; Blue & Yellow Brads; Oval Punch; Foam Tape

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

ATC Calendar

I didn't stamp anything today that I can show you straight away, as what I did do is for a challenge I do with a group of friends which I will posting here on Thursday (Oz time). So rather than post anything I thought I would share with you my ATC calendars I did for a special ATC calendar swap I am hosting!

Yeah mine are all the same .... I got to do September which here in Australia is also the beginning of Spring! One of the things you associate with spring is flowers so I went with a floral theme for my ATC's.

The first thing I did was create my background onto gloss card using alcohol inks .... I used butterscotch, terracotta & a little raisin. Once I had my background I could stamp my background using black ink and then finally attach my calendar. These were fun to make! The calendar was created on my computer.

Recipe:
Stamps: Flower - Penny Black; Spring Defination - Hero Arts; Wish - SU; Weave - Lucy's Stamps
Paper: White Gloss; Black; White
Other: Black Ink; Butterscotch; Terracotta & Raisin Adirondack Alcohol Inks;

Monday, October 29, 2007

Simple Joys of Life!

Monday has arrived so it is time for another challenge with my goofy CCEE friends (that better Tosh? .... probably not but I said it anyway ;) !)

Once a month one of our members sends everyone else some supplies needed to create our challenge card for the last Monday of the month. This month it was Dawn's turn to supply our challenge .... she sent us a large paint chip and some chipboard shapes. Her instructions were to create a card or altered item using the ENTIRE paint chip. We were allowed to cut it apart if we wanted to, but we had to leave it in the correct color order. We also had to use any of the chipboard pieces she supplied to create our item.

Now this paint chip was massive! It had to be at least 21 1/2 cm x 10 cm (approx 8 1/2 inches x 4 inches) it was actually a tiny bit larger as it had curved sides but after checking in with Dawn we were allowed to straighten the sides :) ..... originally I had planned on making this into some sort of card and layering the paint chip but using the paint chip as would have created a very oversized card so I had to go with plan B (Yes Cindy ... I needed a plan B too ;) )

First I ran my paint chip through the cuttlebug as I wanted to add texture to it .... that looked ok but I did see one or 2 tiny pieces of white so I thought hmmm lets sand it ... if I did this again I would not sand my paint chip .... arghhhhhh what had I done! I only had the one paint chip ... so no room for mistakes! I then decided rather than making that oversized card I would cut up my paint chip and turn it into an accordion card. I layered each panel onto burgundy card and then attached it to an accordion card I created to suit my paint chip panels.

The chipboard shapes Dawn sent me included a flower shape so I took that one and a couple of others I had here and painted them using pink acrylic paints, layered them ....used large brads for the centres of 2 of the flowers and stamped on the large one. I used ribbon for the stems and stamped my leaves from my autumn leaves "build a flower" set. The large verse is stamped on acetate using black stazon and then attached to that panel using pink dragonfly brads.

It is not my most favorite of cards I have created by I don't hate it either ... it is fun to sometimes do something a little out of the norm to what you would usually do. Thanks Dawn for a fun challenge!

Recipe:
Stamps: Leaves from Build a Flower - Autumn Leaves; Wishing You verse - Hero Arts; may the simple joys - Papertrey Ink
Papers: Regal Rose - Stampin' Up; White; Burgundy
Other: Black Ink; Paint Chip; Green Grosgrain Ribbon; Pink Dragonfly Brads; Jumbo Brads; Spots & Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

Sunday, October 28, 2007

You Make Me Smile Award


Sarah of Craftaholics Anonymous nominated me for the "You Make Me Smile Award". Apparently you have to link to your tagger's blog, post these rules, share 7 facts about yourself (random or weird is ok!), tag 7 more people and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

As I have only just given you 7 random facts about me Thursday, you don't want to know 7 other random things and to be honest I had a hard enough time coming up with those 7 LOL! You think it would be pretty easy until you sit down to do it LOL!

I also am supposed to tag 7 more people ... any I tagged 7 people on Thursday .... so this time I am going to tag YOU! You if haven't yet been awarded the "You Make Me Smile" award you have now!

Thanks for continuing to visit my blog!

Nite Rider!

After a very enjoyable day with my daughters etc, I finally got around to working on my card for this weeks featured stamper challenge. This week the featured stamper is Chat aka Nitestamper on SCS, it was a joy to browse Chat's gallery and I had a very hard time deciding on which card to CASE ... I had several on a short list! Anyway after a bit of deliberation I decided to CASE this one.

As per usual for the featured stamper challenge I had to change at least 2 things to Chat's card ... here are my changes:
  • Changed the image
  • Changed the colors
  • Changed the DP
  • Changed the ribbon
  • Changed the heart clip & brads on the corners to star brads
  • Added a spiral clip to replace pin & flower.
As you can see I fished out my Bronc Buster set ... I think I have definitely got value out of this set .... I tend to use it a lot if you haven't noticed.

Recipe:
Stamps: Bronc Buster - Stampin' Up
Papers: Really Rust; Vanilla; Chocolate Chip; Outlaw DP - Stampin' Up
Other: Chocolate Chip & Creamy Caramel SU Ink; Star Brads; Circle Punches; Ticket Corner Punch; Brown Grosgrain Ribbon; Spiral Clip; Foam Tape

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Hi .... Rain!

It is time for another of Beate's Weekend sketch challenges, this week we had to create a Z Fold card. If you aren't too sure how to make one of these cards Beate also provided a tutorial which you can find here.

For my card I decided to use the one stamp I came home with from the craft show on Wednesday ... it has been sitting on my desk calling to be used ever since I brought it home! I adapted the size of my Z Fold to suit the image, and of course I had to play with my nestabilities too. I used my score it board to create the border on the 3 sides of the base portion of this card for something different .... I also used this to score my card to get the right folds ... it definitely made it easier then having to find a ruler and make a mark etc .... the score it board has a ruler on it so it makes it easy to just position the card on the required mark and score! The little circle that holds the verse serves two purposes ... it is there for the greeting and also to help keep the card closed.


Recipe:
Stamps: Umbrella & Slicker - Whipper Snapper; Verse - Impression Obsession
Paper: Real Red; Summer Sun - Stampin' Up; White; DP - Basic Grey
Other: Black Ink; Blue Brads; Square & Circle Nestabilities; Hole Punch; Score It Board

Friday, October 26, 2007

Tis the Season .... Sneak Peak 4!

Not long to go now until the release of the new Hanna Stamps ... "Tis the Season" .... if you haven't noticed I sooooooo love these stamps! Remember Kristi is still offering free postage!

Now this set is a Christmas set, but I wanted to play with it and make a non Christmas card using it.

I decided to use my front porch stamp I got a few months back and have Hanna at the front door ... being able to use this particular Hanna image on our cards for times other than Christmas does make it even more versatile! I decided to make this a birthday card for my DD who is turning 30 in a few days ..... I had thought of using a Hanna card I created Saturday but she turned up and when she saw it she said I couldn't use that one cause she had now seen it ..... arghhhhhh! So hopefully she will like this one! Hanna reminds me of my DD cause she is tall, skinny and has long hair like Hanna has ... even a similar color to how I colored this one.


Recipe:
Stamps: Tis the Season - Hanna Stamps; Front Porch - Eat Cake Graphics; Verse - Papertrey Ink
Papers: Pretty in Pink; Regal Rose; Chocolate Chip - Stampin' Up; Glitter Stack - DCWV; White
Other: Black Ink; Celeste Blue Impress Ink; Pink Brads lge & small; D'Vine Swirl Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Photo Corner Punch; Foam Tape

Genuine One & Only

I am a little late this week posting my card for the challenge I do with some Fab Friends on SCS. This week we had to CASE Jimmi's card that she actually created for a challenge I hosted for my first VSN.

I decided to go with my trusty Wanted & Bronc Buster stamp sets again .... I so love these sets. I do go a slightly different color combo then I normally do when using this set as I decided to make use of the sage color that is behind the striped paper.

This is a side folding card so my card is cut 29.6cm x 10.5cm and then folded in half so it measures 14.8 x 10.5cm when folded (approx 5 3/4inches x 4 1/8"). I then layered my first DP to my card ... this is the plain sage color on the reverse of the stripes, I sponged the edges with choc chip ink and also stamped the "Genuine" image to the top right hand side using the same ink and a few flourishes using really rust ink.

I wanted particularly DP to show on either side of the piece that is folded so I actually taped two pieces together (yeah I know it was already double sided ... but I didn't like what was showing on the other side of either of the DP for this particular card!) The top right edge is folded down but I was careful not to crease the folded too much I wanted it rounded. Before adhering it to the card I also punched the holes for my brown brads.

I used orange star brads to decorate the thin choc chip strip ... which I colored up a bit by using a darker brown alcohol marker and then sanded slightly. These were placed on the brown strip which was adhered to the left side of the card.

Finally I used my nestabilities dies to create my various circles and stamp the horse to the vanilla piece in choc chip, layered the circles and mounted it to my card using foam tape.

Recipe:
Stamps: Wanted & Bronc Buster - Stampin' Up
Paper: Vanilla, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip & Outlaw DP - Stampin' Up
Other: Chocolate Chip & Really Rust SU Ink; Orange Star Brads; Brown Brads; Circle Nestabilities

Publish Post

Thursday, October 25, 2007

I've Been Tagged by Ila

I was tagged today by Ila of Artfully Ila, check out her fabulous blog. Don't forget to check it out she has some wonderful creations on their.

Here are the rules for this tag..

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself (on your blog, we all want to know them).

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

I think I have done one of these previously but it was a long time ago so I will give it another go.

1. Yesterday Ila posted to her blog a photo of her new puppy which is a Bichon/Shihtzu that she named Buddy! As I have a Shihtzu that is also name Buddy I couldn't resist leaving her a comment. My Buddy is about 11 or 12 years old now, hard to imagine he was ever that little.

2. My favorite color is blue .... in every house we have ever lived in I have had to have a blue kitchen!

3. I have taught stamping in 3 stamp stores and 1 scrapbooking store.

4. My favorite dessert is Pavlova

5. I don't drink tea or coffee.

6. My favorite method of coloring is using alcohol markers.

7. My favorite actor is Gordon MacRae, and my favorite singer is John Denver ... unfortunately both are now deceased.

So now I have to tag 7 people ...

1. Ashley Bowen

2. Bev Gerard

3. Judy Workman

4. Cambria Turnbow

5. Kendra Wietstock

6. Kirsten DeBosque

7. Lisa Zappa

Tis the Season to be Pretty!

Well here is another sneak peak at the new Hanna Stamps "Tis the Season" set which will be released this Friday 26th October. There are 13 stamps in this stamp set. Kristi is still offering free shipping world wide .... how cool is that!

I wanted to get away from the traditional green & red Christmas cards this time round. The card base is Not Quite Navy, I stamped the snow flurry stamp all over this base card using white ink. I then tore a piece of white card and attach this to the bottom of the card for my snow. The verse is stamped onto the white snow area using blue bayou SU ink. I stamped, colored and cut out 4 trees, cutting the trunk shorter on some and adhered them to my card. Hanna was also stamped on one white and cut out and attached to the card using foam tape. For Hanna's dress I colored it in using my alcohol markers, I then created a reverse mask for the dress only. I took my snow flurries stamp and Blue Bayou Ink to stamp the flurry over the dress area. Finally I added glitter to the snow areas.

Recipe: Stamps: Tis the Season - Hanna's Stamps
Paper: Not Quite Navy; White
Other: Black Ink; White Brilliance Ink; Blue Bayou SU ink; Glitter; Foam Tape



Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Chocolate!

This card actually depicts what I would love to be doing right now..... sitting in a comfy chair with me feet up eating chocolate. I will be able to go and sit in a comfy chair pretty soon ... once I clean up the mess I have created here while stamping my a couple of cards tonight ... this sketch challenge card and another Hanna sneak peak which I will upload tomorrow morning :) .

Today a friend & I went to a local craft show ..... it was my turn to drive which I had not complaints about ... we arrived at the venue and were ready to drive into the car park but for some odd reason there was a long line of cars waiting to get in and none of them were moving ... after a few minutes my friend decided to investigate what the problem was. Apparently the power had gone out in the venue so the boom gates and ticket dispenser were not operating .... so there we sat behind the other cars for about 20 or so mins. In the meantime my friend decided to get out of the car and purchase our tickets while I was waiting to get into the car park. Eventually movement was happening at another entrance which technically we weren't supposed to use ...... but after dozens of cars starting driving in that way and were not coming back or the cars were not at a stand still I decided to try it myself ........ finally I was in the car park ... they had lifted the boom gates .... but still no ticket dispenser so we had to park without one .... the electricity was still off ...... so I had to turn on my lights it was that dark in there!

After parking I went on up to the foyer of the venue to find my friend ........ no she wasn't in the line that was going into the venue ... so where was she ... I finally found her in the very long queue to buy tickets which had stopped selling because they too had no power .... so another 20 min wait while they tried to figure out what they could do to get us in.

Well after all that hassle I only came home with 1 stamp ..... yeap you heard right ONE! Oh that wasn't all I got .... I did buy a new daylight lamp as my other only worked when it wanted .... this one is so much better than what I had previously and also has a magnifier if I need it. My other purchase was a score it board which I have been wanting for sometime and the great news about this is the measurements are in metric which is what I work in mostly so another plus!

Ok back to the card! As I said previously this is for this weeks sketch challenge .... I am later posting today ... because of the above and also when I did come home and come to check SCS for the sketch it was down for maintenance LOL!

As well as using my new My favorite Things set I got recently I was able to use my defining Chocolate stamp I got last year and hadn't used yet .... it works well with this set.


Recipe:
Stamps: How Sweet It Is - My Favorite Things; Defining Chocolate - Stamp It (Aust)
Paper: Pretty In Pink, Rose Red & Chocolate Chip - Stampin' Up; White
Other: Black Ink; Chocolate Chip Ink; Brown & Pink Brads; Paper Piercing Mat & Tool; Photo Corner Punch; Foam Tape.

Tis the Season .... Sneak Peak 2!

I have another sneak peak today of the "Tis the Season" stamp set by Hanna Stamps. This time I decide to use the tree without Hanna (remember I said yesterday these were two separate stamps so it is easy to do this) .... I wanted the tree to look like it was inside the house not outside in the snow (it doesn't snow in Australia at Christmas time ... in fact we are normally swimming it is that hot :) ).

To start I stamped the presents twice onto white card and masked those images and then I stamped my tree .... as the tree is a clear stamp it is easy to line this up exactly where you want it with the need of a stamp positioner. I colored the portion under the tree red so it looked like those skirts people sometimes place under trees these days. Those spots you can see on the tree are actually clear rhinestones. I used my paper piercing mat and tool to create the faux stitched look to this piece.

This layout is actually one I found today on Captain Crafter's blog, his challenge was to create a Christmas card using non traditional stamps ... well I completed part of the challenge but I wanted to use my Hanna stamps for this and I liked the sketch.

The circle embellishment is was created using the circle nestibilities dies ... I stamped the snowflake from this new set in red on the white circle and then after layering all circles together added the gem brad.

I also stamps the little snow flourish in this set on the bottom olive panel ... it might be hard to see in my photo but it does show up better in real life.

The only stamp here that isn't part of the "Tis the Season" set is the Christmas Verse.

Recipe: Stamps: Tis the Season - Hanna Stamps; Season of Joy - Stampin' Up
Paper: Old Olive, Real Red - Stampin' Up; White; Fruitcake Basic Grey DP
Other: Black Ink; Real Red SU Ink; Olive Pastel Fluid Chalk; Circle Nestibilites Sml; Ticket Corner Punch; Photo Corner Punch; Paper Piercing Mat & Tool; Olive Brads; Olive Micro Brads; Red Gem Brad; Clear Rhinestones; Foam Tape

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Tis the Season .... Sneak Peak!

Are you ready for another sneak peak .....

It's almost time for the 2nd set of Hanna Stamps to be released. A little birdie told me today they would be released this Friday! This new set is called "Tis the Season" and would make a perfect addition to your Christmas stamps. Hanna & the Tree are two separate stamps so it would be easy to use Hanna for other occasions during the year as well.

For this card I decided I had to do another transparent /acetate card. I stamped Hanna twice, once on the white card and once on some DP, I cut out the dress from the DP and added that to Hanna. Hanna was also masked so I could stamp the tree so she would look like she is standing in the snow! I added glitter to the snow beneath the tree and also on the sides of the tree.

The snowflakes on the acetate sheet were stamped using white stazon ink. This was a really simple card to make but I really like how it turned out if I do say so myself :)

Recipe:
Stamps:
Tis the Season - Hanna Stamps
Paper:
Real Red - Stampin' Up; White; Fruitcake Basic Grey DP; Acetate
Other:
Black Ink; White Stazon Ink; Ticket Corner Punch; Clear Glitter; Ribbon

Monday, October 22, 2007

Just 4 You .... 4 Hounds!

It time again for another CCEE challenge I do with a bunch of wacky friends on SCS ;) . This week it was decided that would would all create a card around the name of a SCS member, not sure I was aware of this stamper before this week, but it has definitely been fun creating my card for her and browsing her gallery.

So who is this card for ................ the name of the SCS stamper is 4 Hounds aka Pam Bassett ..... for our challenge we were told we had to include 4 hounds on our card and the # 4 too ..... which is why I have not inked up the "for" in the verse and replaced it with the #4.

I used my nestabilities dies to cut out my circles and then stamped the dogs into each one and colored. These were then layered to the blue squares and then onto the black and rust large squares. I used my flannel plaid b/g to create the background on the mustard card. The bookplate was made using a sizzix die and the criss cross border is a cuttlebug die.

Pam this card will be on it was to you by the end of the week, hope you enjoy it!

Recipe:
Stamps: Dog - High Hopes Stamps; Verse - Impressions Obsession; 4 from Writing Rebus set & Flannel Plaid - Stampin' Up
Paper: Ballet Blue, More Mustard, Really Rust - SU; White Black
Other: Black Ink; More Mustard SU Ink; Sizzix Bookplate Die; Cuttlebug Border Die; Circle Nestibilities; Black Brads; Foam Tape

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Don't Forget!

One of the things I don't want to forget is that today we get another featured stamper challenge on SCS! So who is todays featured stamper? It is Carole Burrage aka TruCarMa, congratulations Carole!

After spending a little time checking out Carole's gallery I finally decided to CASE this card. Of course I had to make at least two changes to Carole's card for this challenge. Here is what I changed:
  • Used a different image
  • Used a different verse
  • Used a different background stamp
  • Used a different ribbon
  • Changed the colors
  • Added my verse to the right corner of the olive card
  • Added brads to the bottom corners of the card
  • Added an additional layer to my base card
For this card I stamped the elephant twice once on the scallop circle and once on scrap white card. After coloring both images in I cut out the head only of the scrap piece and layered it to the elephants head using foam tape.

Recipe:
Stamps: It's a Jungle out there - My Favorite Stamps; Weave B/G - Cornish Heritage Farms
Paper: Old Olive - SU; White; Dark Grey
Other: Black Ink; Olive Pastel & Dark Moss Fluid Chalks; Circle Nestibilities; Paper Piercing Mat & Tool; Grosgrain Ribbon; Olive Brads; Foam Tape

Good Friends, Good Wine, Good Times


This card is for "Celebrating MFT" Day which is the 20th of each month (Yeah I know it is the 21st down here in Oz but it is still the 20th in the US so it counts ;) )

I actually made this card the other day ... just hadn't gotten around to uploading it as I had unloaded enough yesterday as it was. For this one I stamped the image onto white card and also onto various pieces of pink DP and cut out the DP pieces and paper pieced them to the main image. The awning is also DP which I first layered onto card to make it stronger and attached it just above the image using foam tape to give it dimension. The floral DP at the side of the card is another from the DCWV Glitter Stack .... again you might not be able to see the glitter on the card here but in real life it looks good. The scallop piece was created using cloud scissors and then used my hole punch to create the holes on each scallop. I also used my weave backgrounder from CHF to create the background on the right side of the card.

Recipe:
Stamps:
Meet Me at the Cafe - My Favorite Things; Weave B/G - CHF
Papers: Pretty Ink Pink, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip & Rose Red DP - SU; Floral DP - DCWV Glitter Stack; White
Other: Black Ink; Pretty In Pink SU Ink; Fiskars Cloud Scissors; Hole Punch; Brads; Foam Tape

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Girls Night Out Shopping!

Hanna's out shopping again and this time with her girlfriends (you can't see her girlfriends here but believe me they are there ... more than likely trying on something in a shop!). This card is a combo of two challenges, firstly it is Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge and it is also for one of the VSN Mini Challenges "Abundant Supplies".

For the Abundant Supply challenge we had to create a card using at least the following items:
  • 2 stamped images,
  • 4 layers,
  • 6 colors, and
  • 8 embellishments (ribbons, brads, eyelets, buttons, charms, punched shapes, etc.)
We could use more if we wanted as long as we used at least this much. I think this card meets all these points .... there are more then 6 colors in the background paper alone, definitely more than 4 layers and 8 embellishments easy ..... remember to count the punched shapes of the born to shop verse and even the paper piercing is an embellishment!

All the card and papers here are from the DCWV stacks, I had friends here during the week who told me about some fantastic bargains on these items at one of our local stores ... so of course I had to check it out for myself and of course yes I came home with a few stacks in varying sizes. The background paper on this card is from the glitter stack ... it actually has clear glitter randomly applied over the paper ... you most probably can't see that online but in real life it looks great!

Hanna's dress was paper pieced .... I stamped it onto the yellow card that I used for one of the layers and cut the dress out and adhered over the main image.

Recipe:
Stamps: But I need it Set - Hanna Stamps; Verse - Stamp It (Aust)
Papers: DP from DCWV Glitter Stack; Yellow, Olive & Orange Card from DCWV Brights Card Stack; White Card
Other: Black Ink; Ticket Corner Punch; Paper Piercing Mat & Tool; Circle Nestabilities; Circle Punches; Yellow & Orange Brads - Making Memories; Olive Grosgrain Ribbon; Foam Tape

The Morning After!

Although this card isn't for the VSN challenges I am still thinking along the lines of the the VSN theme "Girl's Night Out!" I figure this is what you might feel like the morning after a Girl's Night Out .... depending on what you did!

I created this one for the Stamping Bella sketch challenge on SCS, I think by now most of you know I love sketch challenges so of course I had to do this one too. I used grumpabella for my image and I embossed the pink panel using my cuttlebug tiny bubbles embossing folder and then sponged over the top of the raised areas using choc chip ink to make it look like coffee beans. The circles for the verse were all created using my nestabilities dies.

Recipe:
Stamps: Grumpabella - Stamping Bella; Verse - Commotion
Papers: Pretty in Pink; Regal Rose; Chocolate Chip - SU; White
Other: Black Ink; Choc Chip SU Ink; Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Ticket Corner Punch; Brown Brads; Brown Grosgrain Ribbon; Circle Nestabilities; Foam Tape

Girls Night Out!

Girls night out! that is the theme for todays mini VSN. There are a total of 4 challenges that you can do and you can take as long as you want to create them ... it doesn't have to be 45 mins as it normally is for VSN challenges.

I am one of the hostesses for todays mini VSN .... my challenge is a sketch challenge, you can see my card above. As there are such a lot of sketch challenges around these days I decided to go back to basics .... thinking along the theme of this VSN .... having a little black dress (well not so little for me ;) ) in your wardrobe is a great investment cause you can dress it up or down whatever the case may be depending on the occasion .......... well that is what I thought about this simple sketch.

I couldn't resist using this image that I did for my sketch card ..... it isn't just the young girls who enjoy a good night out now is it! I am looking forward to seeing what others do with this sketch on SCS!


This second card was made for the "Time for a Martini" challenge .... we had to use the verse that goes "One martini, two martini, three martini, floor". This is such a fun verse and of course I had to have it even though I don't drink. I decided I wanted to play with my new nestabilities dies for this card and create a tent card .... I am loving these dies .... so far I have used all my sets and have ordered the rectangle too but I may have to wait before that arrives .... that is ok the other 3 will keep me busy! I didn't have room on my card to put the whole verse on the front of the card so I just used the first two lines of it on the front .... the rest of the verse is inside the card.

That's all the challenges I have done so far, hopefully I will get some time to do some more. For more info on all of the 4 challenges been run check out this thread.

Recipes:

Girls wanna have fun:
Stamps : Inky Antics
Paper: Red, White, Purple, Purple Stripe - Making Memories
Other: Black Ink; Red Brads; Ticket Corner Punch

One Martini:
Stamps: Inky Antics
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Old Olive - SU; Pheobe Basic Grey DP; White
Other: Black Ink; Oval Nestabilities; Oval Punch; Label Punch; Olive Grosgrain Ribbon

Friday, October 19, 2007

Virtual Stamp Night - Mini Challenges

Well it is time for more Virtual Stamp Night Challenges. 2 of my Fab friends are the co-ordinators for the next Virtual Stamp Night which is to be held in January 2008. Well I couldn't let this go by without being a hostess yet again now could I. I know January seems such a long way a way (thank goodness ;) ) ..... but as it is such a long time away there are going to be a series of Mini VSN between now and then.

The first Mini VSN will be held at 7pm EST Friday 19th October .... now if you live in the US that is tomorrow night ..... if you live in Australia it will be 9am Saturday morning our time! Hope you will drop by and check out the challenges. For the mini VSN's there will be a series of 4 challenges which will all be posted at the same time .... and the good news is that you can take as long as you want to create them .... you do not have to keep to the normal VSN time of 45 mins - yahhhhhhh!!! I know I find it so hard to create a card in 45 mins so I am very happy about that change.

Oh did I tell you that I will be hosting one of the challenges tomorrow! Can't tell you which one as yet .... you will have to wait till the challenges go up ... I hope you enjoy it though!

Oh and I forgot to tell you the theme for this next VSN which will be carried through all the Mini's and the January VSN ...... "Girls Night Out!" ..... what fun!

For more info on VSN & the Mini VSN check out this thread on SCS.

Wanted Birthday Girl

I made this card for my friend Cindy's birthday .... we always had such a hard time convincing her to have a photo taken that it made me think of a wanted poster so of course when we finally did get a photo of her I just had to put that thought into action.

As it is already Friday down here in Australia .... it is already Cindy's birthday ... in the US though she has one more sleep to go before she can officially say it is her birthday ... but what is the good of having friends in Australia if you can't start your birthday celebrations in their time!!! Double the fun!!!!!

Cindy has a heart of gold and is always sending cards out to everyone .... Happy Birthday Cindy .... hope your mail box get filled to the brim with birthday cards :)

Recipe:
Stamps: Wanted Poster - Posh; Bricks - Stamp It (Aust); Words - Karen Foster Snap Stamps
Paper: White; Really Rust, Blue, Red
Other: Black Ink; Burnt Sienna & Bisque Fluid Chalks; Photo Corner Punch; Brads

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Wanted Tag Card

Todays card is for a challenge I do with some "fab friends", this week we had to CASE a tag card that Kim created recently for the DTGD challenges.

I had fun with this one and decided it was time to get out my Wanted and Bronc Buster stamps out again to play. I distressed the edges of my outlaw DP before attaching this to each of the panels. I stamped the cowboy on his horse onto vanilla card using choc chip ink and again distressed the edges using my distressing tool and creamy caramel SU ink. Layer this onto a choc chip tag shaped card distressing the edges of this piece too. I attached the star brads to the top of the choc chip tag and attached this to the middle panel.

I stamped and distressed the Wanted image and the Genuine images as I did previously and attached them to their panels at an angle. I used my photo corner punch to create corners to the bottom right panel and my circle punches to create embellishments to my left panel.

I finished off the tag card by attaching snaps to the top holes of each panel.

Recipe:
Stamps: Wanted & Bronc Buster - Stampin' Up
Paper: Vanilla, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip & Outlaw DP
Other: Chocolate Chip & Creamy Caramel SU Ink; Distressing Tool; Photo Corner Punch; Circle Punches; Brads; Star Brads; Snaps

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Lizzie Ladybug

This card is for this weeks sketch challenge. It took me a little while today to decide what stamps to use but after some thought I decided to use one of the stamps I purchased on the weekend.

The background on the top portion of the olive card was created using Weathered Wood Backgrounder by CHF.

Recipe:
Stamps: Lizzy Ladybug - Whipper Snapper; Weathered Wood B/G - CHF; Verse - Darcies
Papers: White; Black; Red; Olive; Stripe Basic Grey DP
Other: Black Ink; Dark Moss Fluid Chalk; Black Brads; Ticket Corner Punch; Foam Tape

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Little Pink Ballerina!

I didn't get to do Beate's Weekend Sketch challenge on the weekend because I was away in Melbourne and although I had stamps by then I didn't have anything else including a computer to see what the sketch was. I have a few challenges I want to try and catch up on this week if I am able, but the first I had to do was this one.

When I came home Sunday night I discovered that my Spellbinder Nestabilities had arrived so of course I had to play with those and this sketch was idea for it. I also decided to use the cute little ballerina I purchased 2 weeks ago at a local stamp show!

Thank goodness Beate picked a simple sketch for this week's challenge, I am not sure I was ready for tooo tough a challenge right up yesterday.

Recipe: Stamps: Ballerina - Whipper Snapper; Verse - Papertrey Ink
Papers: Pretty In Pink; Pink Passion - Stampin' Up; White; DP - Heidi Grace
Other: Black Ink; Square Nestablities (Scallop & Classic); Photo Corner Punch; Pink Brads; Foam Tape

Monday, October 15, 2007

Rocky's Son ..... Yikes!


This is my Monday CCEE challenge card. This is my story!

1. Our challenge for today was “Role Playing” we have to pretend we are one of the other girls in our CCEE group and create a card in there style. Yikes!

2. When I first read this challenge I think I said a lot more then Yikes! But once I received the pm from our HC Tosh with the name of the person I was role playing and I thought about it for about 30 mins I was ok!

3. Can you guess which member I had to role play! Come on it should be easy to guess this one ….. to help you, here are the members that are in our group:
Stamps4funinCA; Mothermark; Cammie; Cindy_Haffner; LilLuvsStampin; DawnL & 88Keys. Post your answer with your comment!

4. Many of you have been following the adventures of our furry friend Rocky …… did you know there is one adventure he has had recently that you haven’t heard about as yet???

5. Rocky has a son!!!!!!! His name is Yikes!!!!!! That’s cause when he was told the first thing he said was Yikes!!!!!!!!!!

6. Can you see how Yikes looks just like his Father!!! Isn’t he just sooooooo cute.

7. Part of the challenge requires that I mail this off to the CCEE member we were assigned to ……… I don’t know if I wanna part with this card ……. but I will ;)

8. Ok Don’t forget to tell me in your comments who you think the person is I am role play from the list I gave you in #3.

9. I will edit this post tomorrow to let you know exactly who it was I am role playing.

Ok so who was I role playing????? .... The answer is: Cindy also Mothermark!

Recipe:

Stamps: Cats - Eureka Rubber Stamps; Box - Fern Gully; Bricks - Stampendous; Grass - Imaginations; Words - Karen Foster Snap Stamps

Paper: White; Black; Lime

Other: Black Ink; Burnt Sienna Fluid Chalk; Celeste Blue Impress Ink; Word Window Punch; Ticket Corner Punch; Black Brads; Foam Tape




What I Have Been Up to Lately!

Most of you may not have noticed, but I have been missing from action for the past 4 days. You wouldn't have noticed as I have still been uploading to my blog daily, thanks to the help of my daughter, Rebecca.

So where have I been? Well I went down to Melbourne with my husband for 4 days, he has been wanting to go down for a break for a while now and as this past weekend was also Paperific a stamping & papercraft show which is supposedly one of the best in Australia .... I worked it that we could get down there to coincide with that.

We flew down bright and early on Thursday morning and after booking into our hotel did the rounds of the city ..... we walk about 20 kms that day I am sure, as well as making use of their free tram which was lots of fun. But by the end of the day my feet were soooo sore .... that we went looking to buy a pair of shoes better suited for all that walking .... took a long time (more walking) but I finally found a pair!

Friday was the first day of Paperific and the day I was planning on attending. I have to admit that i was a little disappointed with the amount of stamp related stand at the show .... certainly not enough for me to spend my money .... which is fine cause I still have money to spend of stuff I really want :) . If you check out the photo above you can see what I did find .... more Whipper Snapper stamps which I wasn't expecting to find as I was told 2 weeks ago there wouldn't be new ones .... so was very glad when I did find some more! I still had a fun day catching up with a few friends that I normally don't get to see due to the distance between us etc. And I also managed to do a few fun make & takes.

The rest of the weekend I spent with my husband exploring the places we wanted to together and we finally arrived home last night both with very sore feet due to all our walking we did throughout the weekend. It's nice to go away but it is always nicer to come back home!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Spring Flowers

Just a quick one tonight as I have just returned home after 4 days in Melbourne with my DH and am very tired.

Here is a card I made a few weeks for a swap ..... the theme was seasons. The background was created using alcohol inks on gloss card and then the images stamped in black ... for the flowers I used 1st & 2nd generation stamping to give the card a little more depth.


Recipe:
Stamps: Flowers - Penny Black; Dragonflies - Artee; Verse - Hero Arts
Papers: White Gloss; Black
Other: Black Archival Ink; Butterscotch, Terracotta Alcohol Inks

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Butterflies are Free!


Here is a quick card I made recently for a book club swap I belong to. The theme for the swap was butterflies and I had to keep it to the standard size card and also minimal layering.

I stamped the butterflies onto my card and then cut it into 3 sections before layering it onto the blue bayou panel.

Recipe:
Stamps:
Garden Whimsey - Stampin' Up

Papers:
Blue Bayou; River Rock; White

Other:
Black Ink; Blue Bayou & River Rock SU Inks; Word Window Punch; Blue Brad

Friday, October 12, 2007

Rebus - Seasons / Weather


I have finally remembered to sort my rebus swap for this month, for some reason I almost forgot I hadn't done it .... it doesn't seem that long ago that I was posting off the rebus cards in September ..... where does the time go?

I know there are a few of you out there who are enjoying trying to solve these, thanks for leaving your comments to the posts it is appreciated and I must say you are all doing very well.

This months rebus relates to weather/seasons so see how you go this time.

For those of you who do play along here are the solutions to last month's "Unusual Baby Names" rebus.

  • Oberon
  • Bay
  • Piper
  • Shade
  • Meteor
  • Shellbee
  • Harmony
  • Denver
  • Canyon
  • Caraway

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Circle True Friend




This card is another for a challenge I do with a bunch of Fab friends on SCS! This week we had to CASE a card that my friend Kim created, you can see her card here.

Kim made this for a recent bonus sketch challenge on SCS, for some reason I didn't get around to playing in that challenge at the time so it was fun to be finally able to do one using this layout. I used my creative memories circle cutter to cut out my circles for this card, folding the base card first before cutting so that I could work out where to put my cutter so I didn't cut around the whole circle and had a fold on the left hand side.

Recipe:
Stamps: True Friend - Stampin' Up
Papers: Not Quite Navy - SU; White; DP - ?
Other: Blue Bayou SU Ink; Marvy Marker #96; Green Brads; Cloud Scissors; Hole Punch; Scallop Circle Punch


Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Sketch Challenge Cards

These cards are both for today's sketch challenge on SCS. For this layout once you fold the card in half you then need to cut approx 1 inch from the right side of the front of the card. It has been a long time since I have made something using this style of card so it was fun to revisit.

The top card is actually the second card I made for this challenge but it is the one I like the best! It uses the tree and verse from Papertrey Ink's "Believe" set.

For the bottom card I used a stamp I purchased recently at a stamp show, the BBQ chef is by Whipper Snapper, I thought he was a lot of fun when I saw him at the show so had to bring him home with me .... he works well with SU's Backyard BBQ set which is what I have also used here.

Recipes:

Christmas Tree
Stamps: Believe Set - Papertrey Ink
Papers: Real Red & Old Olive - Stampin' Up; White; Fruitcake DP - Basic Grey
Other: Black Ink; Ticket Corner Punch; Olive Grosgrain Ribbon; Red Brads

BBQ Chef:
Stamps: BBQ Chef - Whipper Snapper; Backyard BBQ - Stampin' Up
Papers: White; Black; Turquoise; Red Stripe DP - Unknown
Other: Black Ink; Black Brads

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

It All Adds Up!

This card is similar to the one I posted on Sunday for the featured stamper challenge. Thanks Anna aka Sweet Miss Daisy for this wonderful design that inspired this card. After I had made that card this one entered my head and just wouldn't leave me alone until I actually stamped it out. I really like this idea of combining smaller stamps with plus signs etc to create a card. For this one I created a real sum "A handbag + Shoes = Money & Love" !!!!!

For this card I stamped the purse twice once on the white card and again on a piece of rose red DP and paper pieced it. I also added some grosgrain ribbon to this one so it was a little different to my other card.

Recipe:
Stamps: But I need It Set - Hanna Stamps
Paper: White Card; Black Card; Rose Red & Rose Red DP - Stampin' Up
Other: Black Ink; Burgundy Grosgrain Ribbon

Monday, October 8, 2007

Watch Where You're Flying That Thing!

Well it is time for another challenge with my CCEE friends on SCS. When we were given this challenge we were told that it often snows on Halloween night in Colorado. So with this in mind we had to make a Halloween card which incorporated something snowy on it eg snowflakes, snowmen, snowflake brads, etc etc. Oh and the final request was that it had to be primary purple and orange!!!!!!!!

I sure hope my card fits all the requirements ..... there is purple and orange on it ..... I stamped a snowman, purple snowflakes on the background panel, snowflake eyelets that I coloured purple using alcohol ink and glitter snow on the ground.

A few months ago I ordered this witch image when I ordered from Eat Cake Graphics .... I had a feeling that sooner or later I would need a Halloween related stamp esp seeing I have started doing challenges with my CCEE friends ...... and this one I couldn't resist! As I have said previously we don't celebrate Halloween here in Australia ...... the shops are selling some Halloween related stuff at present and there are a few people who do trick or treat ... but they are in the minority here ....... I haven't had anyone knock on my door at Halloween for a few years. But I will make sure I have something just in case!

Anyway when I stamped my witch I had to work out how on earth I could incorporate that with snow when I remembered this snowman ...... I figured he might look like she had knocked him down while she was flying and crashed into the tree.

I stamped my snowflake background using wisteria fluid chalk and added the two snowflake brads that I colored using alcohol inks first. The orange panel was stamped using large spider web stamp in black.

I didn't want to just add the verse (which I created using the computer) by layering so I found an orange grommet and added that to my card and attached the verse under this. I guess it could be an orange moon ......... if you can have purple snow I can't see why you can't have an orange moon right ;)

Anyway I had fun creating this card ........ I hope you enjoy it too!


Recipe:
Stamps: Witch - Eat Cake Graphics; Snowman - Cowtown Stamps; Web - alota Rubber Stamps; Snowflake B/G - Stampendous
Paper: White; Black; Orange
Other: Black Ink; Wisteria Fluid Chalk; Snowflake Eyelets; Orange Grosgrain Ribbon; Orange Grommet; Glitter; Foam Tape