Thursday 9 December 2010

Another birthday Girl

Granddaughter number 2 is 15 today - so the card was made in a mad scramble last night, as I am very behind with things. Haven't even got the Chrissy deco's up yet!

Here is the card:

 It actually looks better than this - taken too late last night!


A mixture of stamps and the greens don't look as if they are in the same ball park in this photo but I assure you they are! 


It is designed to hold a gift card in the middle and to slide out as you  open the card.  Our personal message is on the other side of the gift holder.  This girls loves music and is a fantastic singer. 

Stamps:  S2G's stamps - 705 Mazie Rocks; Inkadinkado - Tell it like it is!
Paper and Card:  SU Tempting Turquoise; DCWV _ Pocket full of Posies card; Co'Ordinations card
Ink: Smooch - green, blue, red and gold; Memento Tuxedo black
Other: Copic pens, die cuts; cuttle bug, Nestabilities Label 17; Prima flowers; bling; Sweeties brad


Been out to breakfast to hear Posie Graeme-Evans speak about her newest novel "The Dressmaker" and to talk about the making of  'McLeod's Daughters', which she directed. This was to raise funds for the Menzies Medical Research Centre. There were over 700 at the breakfast. Then took my eldest granddaughter out to lunch - just because I can.  Will see Miss Birthday Girl this afternoon, after school.

Monday 6 December 2010

Christmas Baubles

Annabelle's Stamps has a challenge going that is "Say it with......Baubles".  They have some lovely stamps that allow you to put a Christmas scene in a bauble, but I don't have that stamp set so I used my SU Delightful decorations set and the bauble punch to create some cards, and have entered them in this challenge.  Here they are:


This one uses the punch and a WMS stamp for the sentiment.

Stamps: WMS Compliments of the Season
Paper and Card: commercial blank card; SU Pear Pizzazz; scrap Christmas paper
Ink:  SU Poppy Parade
Other:  dimentionals, the baubles have been put through the embossing folder in the bug; the ribbon bows; gold pen; Martha Stewart edge punch Doily with Hearts; SU bauble punch




Here are all ten. The green background paper was a freebie from a magazine - so pretty.  The red background card uses baubles punched out of an old Christmas card and recycled. 


This one is using the punch and recycling some old gold ribbon, combined with an old SU stamp set Merry Merry.

Stamps: SU Merry Merry
Paper and Card: commercial blank card; Papermania set - a Silent Night
Ink:  Versamark
Other:  dimentionals, gold ribbon (recycled); White EP; gold pen; SU Bauble punch



This one is again using the punch, and the WMS sentiment and a swirl from an SU set. I have just realised that none of these are stamped, but if you look at the red baubles in the set, they are all stamped and embossed.


Stamps: WMS Compliments of the Season; SU Season of Joy
Paper and Card: commercial blank card; SU Whisper White and Melon Mambo
Ink:  SU Melon Mambo
Other:  dimentionals, the baubles have been put through the Snowflake embossing folder in the bug; pink ribbon

Sunday 5 December 2010

Sidetracked

Yes, again. I saw these in Blue Bella's blog and had a go.




Stamps:  SU Season of Joy and WSM Compliments of the Season
Paper and Card: SU Daffodil Delight; SU Whisper White; Allison Ellis design - So This is Christmas paper
Ink: SU Poppy Parade
Other: SU Sticky Strip; t-lights


T-lights in boxes with a snowflake stamped image on the top of the t-light. So cute! OK, now I know how to do this and make a cute and easy box, so back to card making.  I had  two of these card blanks given to me, so this is what I did with them. The other one is in blue and has a snowman image on it, a digi.




Stamps: WMS Nutcraker and Compliments of the Season
Paper and Card: Commercial card blank with lattice; gold card; SU Whisper White
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Other: Copic pens; bling; double sided tape, Smooch highlights; gold pen



And then there is the Amaryllis Lily - here it is yesterday morning:

Thursday 2 December 2010

Making batches of things

Like others I know I have been making batches of things for Christmas - biscuits (cookies for some), cards, tags, goody bags......here are some cards I have been making batches of 10 of....does that make grammatical sense?

These all use one of the SU sets that I didn't get much use from last year but have squirrelled some ideas away for this year. My hand began to ache towards the end of fussy cutting all the flowers and the trees! So, thirty more done.


Stamps: SU Season of Joy and Peaceful Wishes; WSM Frame It
Paper and Card: SU Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz and Poppy Parade, and various Christmas papers from the stash
Ink: SU Poppy Parade and Pear Pizzazz
Other: SU ribbon, other ribbon, bling, Martha Stewart Doily edge punch, commercial card blanks, dimentionals


Then there was this one:


This is not as easy to batch - I will have to do something else for the mount for the sentiment as my attempt at a scalloped square using the scallop edge punch is dismal. Probably just a plain mount, or a double mount as I have the main bit.


Stamps:SU Season of Joy and Peaceful Wishes
Paper and Card: SU whisper White, Night of Navy and Tempting Turquoise
Ink: SU Not Quite Navy and Tempting Turquoise (pen)
Other: Vandoros ribbon

NEWS:

Guess who won the Annabelle stamps blog Candy for November - yes, moi! Thank you so much Andrea: she tells me the parcel is on its way, and I will show you what I purchased with my winnings! 

Then there is my lily - I have been watching the buds swell for three days now, and this morning one had started to open.  I meant to get my camera and go and photograph it but got waylayed by blogland (you know how it is) and then when I did go, it had fallen off or been knocked off and I could not locate it - sang out to the DH (he doesn't think he knocked it off but he might have, accidently - he just found it there on the ground and put it in the kitchen!)  - so, here is the stalk with the second bud and then the flower that should have been attached!





Isn't it a beauty! If you know what kind of lily it is, I would be pleased to know!

ED: Deb tells me it is an Amaryllis Lily - thanks Deb. 

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Goody Bags

The Creative Card Crew have a challenge to make a treat box or goody bag,and I had to make something for my biscuits for the hospital I volunteer for, as they are having a Christmas goodies stall.  I made some chocolate and nut biscuits (cookies for those from USA) and put them in celephane bags, and then hung them in the decorated goody folder. They are for tomorrow so I hope they sell OK.

I have the template for the folders, if anyone wants it - I made it up as I went along after looking at so many out in blog land. It takes one sheet of A4 card. The Bon Appetit card on the back which holds the ingredients list, is stamped onto Confetti White. I cut out the labels using the bug, and then stamped and embossed them.





Stamps:  WMS - Rescue Remedies; Victorian Fripperies
Paper and Card: SU Card  - Garden Green, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise; Pretty in Pink; scraps of Christmas papers; SU Confetti White
Ink: SU Inks - Pacific Point; Cherry Cobbler; Hunter Green; Memento Tuxedo Black
Other: clear EP; various ribbon/ties; SU scallop edged punch; Sticky strip and other tape; hole punch; Nestabilities Label 4; Cuttlebug

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Its Official

It was a friend's birthday last week but we are having a get-together tomorrow night, a regular 'girls night out' for the group, celebrating birthdays by bringing a card for the birthday girl(s) of that month. This girl is the usual organiser for our group but someone else has done this one - should be fun.  Anyway, here is my card for her - a tri-fold, which ends up giving you four surfaces to decorate, I discovered!  I used I Brake for Stamps to create this card, and ran out of inspiration - although it has a secret embedded in it, which only a few of us know about!




The inside of the card - I tried to emboss an oval into the card (did that OK) and then coloured it in using the Copics and my hand is not that steady, so the oval is a bit uneven.  It's raining hard outside so I took this second photo just inside Dh's workshop door, and the focus is not good, but you can see the two 'golden oldies' in all their glory. 




Anyway, I have a list of ingredients. 

Stamps:  I Brake for Stamps - Kiss the Chef and Sentiments and images from another Plate. 
Paper and Card: SU Elegant Eggplant; X-Press White card
Ink: SU Elegant Eggplant; Momento Tuxedo Black
Other: Copics; ribbon; dimentionals
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Sunday 21 November 2010

Holly's Sketch

ThereSheGoes Challenge #81 is called Holly's Sketch.  I used the sketch to create this card and shall enter it in their challenge, although I have not used one of my TSG stamps to create it!   It is made from pieces of Christmas papers from the  Christmas box, and some sponging of SU Red ink, and a tag that has been hanging around for a while, which I had stamped with a free stamp from UK Stampers magazine, and then coloured in....the sentiment is in a nestability, embossed and stamped with gold and red ink, with a stamp from WMS.








Stamps: Free stamp: Elusive Images; Waltzing Mouse Stamp - Complements of the Season; and Vintage Labels 4
Paper and Card: SU Cherry Cobler base card; SU Whisper White for frame;  Kaiser Bell collection - Natalie; scrap paper
Ink: SU Riding Hood Red; Encore Gold
Other: Red Tag with vellum centre; gold ribbon; bling; Clear EP

OTHER THINGS:

I told you in the last post that I had sent my grandson his birthday present - I did not hear on his day that it  had arrived, so assumed it was late and would get there on the Saturday or Monday - I knew he would have lots of things anyway to open on his birthday.  Yes, it did arrive on Saturday - but only by the kind offices of a neighbour who lives at 71 not 31 their street!  I had put the wrong number in the address! Anyway it was quite early in the morning, and he was ecstatic because he had a whoopee cushion (he "knew I was sending him one", he said - strange, I didn't until I saw it in the shop and thought he would be amused!) and a stethoscope "a real one!" His thanks were perfunctory, as the box had not yet been gone through in all its depth and he wanted to get back to exploring to see what else was in there, so guess it was a success! What a shame we missed seeing it, but thank goodness for the phone! Happy birthday Jack. 



Thursday 18 November 2010

Aargh, its a pirate

Tomorrow is my Grandson's birthday, and I have sent his a card in his parcel - he is 5,so the theme of the card was Pirates! It uses die cuts, and a bit of paper piecing, so I will enter it into Little Paper Shops challenge LPSC#94.



Happy Birthday Jack. 

I used black SU card, and spare scrap card through the bug and a Disney die called Pirates Ahoy.  The Happy Birthday is from a Martha Stewart big punch, and there are some rub-ons.

Stamps: None!
Paper and Card: SU Whisper White and black, plus some scrap colours; white shimmer card
Ink: None
Other: Disney Die; Martha Stewart punch, rub-on's; red twine

RECYCLE and GLITTER IT

Let's Ink It Up has a challenge on at present to recycle it in your card or item at the moment.  So I have another one where I use the holographic EP and an image cut from one of last year's Christmas cards.  It is not the focus image of course - that is the City of David embossed onto the gold card, and the sentiment also embossed in white. 



Stamps: Florishes City of David; WMS Compliments of the Season
Paper and Card: Gold commercial blank card; white shimmer card
Ink: Versamark; Brilliance White
Other: Stamp It Holographic EP; White EP; scrap ribbon

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Painting with EP....

So, I had a go - here it is:

I enjoyed playing but it took a while - and I ended up re-stamping the background image twice. I also discovered that some EP's are not suited to this. I tried to get the darker blue to sprinkle around and blend in with the lavender but it tended to clump, and so I blended in some ink to disguise it.  I was afraid to do it too much, but think I should have been bolder. The kings were fussy cut after being embossed and then coloured with Copics - I did colour them with watercolour pencils and an aqua pen but it looked wishy-washy, so went over that with Copics. Some gold pen on the headdresses and a gold star from the stash.


Stamps: City of David by Flourish; and SU The Snowflake Spot (discontinued)
Paper and Card: SU Whisper White; gold framed commercial blank card
Ink: ; Memento Paris Dusk
Other: EP's - various for Stamp It;  Copics; gold star, dimensionals

Sunday 14 November 2010

Time to Celebrate

For a while now I have subscribed to the UK magazine Craft Stamper, and not only because they give away a small stamp each addition, usually something from a known designer and from one of their latest sets of stamps. They are clear polymer, and usually of a great standard.  This card has the last three give-aways used on it, and I am entering it into the challenge #25 from Tuesday Throwdown - to use 'inchies': to me, these are squares, of an inch.  However, mine uses squares that are bigger than that - in fact they are inches x's 2!



I used a gold square commercial blank card, and cut out one square to create the window. I drew around the other three windows with a gold pen, and stamped within them before colouring them up with Copics. I used the square from the gold card on the fourth window, and a small felt Christmas tree in the Christmas stash from last year. I ran the Versamark ink around the edges of the white card and embossed it with gold EP.

Stamps: Freebies from Craft Stamper
Paper and Card: SU Whisper White; gold commercial blank card
Ink: Encore Ultimate Metallic gold; Memento Tuxedo Black
Other: JudiKins EP Egyptian Gold; felt tree; bling; Copics

Another challenge is from Let's Ink It Up, on recycling but I wanted to practice what I was doing first, so I used some images cut from a Christmas card we got last year, and covered them with Versamark and then used some clear EP but it has a shimmer in it. Then I made a card with them. The first photo shows the images covered with the holographic EP.  The second photo indicates the depth of colour in this powder. The third photo, apart from showing it is raining here, also indicates the actual card. I had an idea of stamping the city of David behind then wise men, but they are too large and so I had to give that away and need to think of something else to give this treatment too.




Stamps: WMS Nutcraker set for sentiment
Paper and Card: SU Pacifric Point; blue shimmer card from stash
Ink:  Memento Paris Dusk
Other: JudiKins EP Clear Holographic


Saturday 13 November 2010

Iris's in Spring...

I have a challenge card and a photo of my black (deep purple) iris to share today.  Firstly, the Annabelle Stamps challenge "Say it in gold...."


A variety of stamp sets and stuff (see below) and it really is more sparkly than it looks - the day is dull and my digital is just a little one. 

Stamps: Flourishes City of David set; WMS - Let it Snow set; Image Tree background text stamp
Paper and Card: SU Riding Hood Red; Confetti White; Gold paper scraps
Ink: Encore Ultimate Metallic gold
Other: JudiKins EP Egyptian Gold

Here is my lovely iris - waiting for my beautiful brown one as well but it's not doing anything. There will be at least four blooms on this one stalk. Yippee!



Friday 12 November 2010

Let it snow....

What do you think?  Card one or card two?  I have remembered to colour in the base of his coat now, the same colour as the trim (pink). Wasn't until I was preparing the photo's that I even noticed it wasn't coloured in! I am not sure if the sentiment circle should be there or now - take it out or leave it there?



Made the ribbon rose by threading a bit of cotton through one side and pulling into a rosette, and added a pearl brad. WSM Nutcracker set for the image, nestabilities, copics and sundry pieces of Christmas paper, plus a Papermania Christmas stamp and SU Melon Mambo ink and card. A Martha Stewart edge punch added to it.  Oh, and Stickles around the edge of the image, and an embossed snowflake in gold from the discontinued SU set called The Snowflake Spot. The whole thing is following the layout (sort-of: CASED) of a card called Autumn Leaves in the October edition of Cardmaking and Papercraft, UK magazine, page 24. 

Monday 8 November 2010

Busy doing nothing much...

You know how it is. However, I have been blog hopping and noticed that Becca's husband John died last week - and wish to post my condolences to someone's whose blog I have watched and whose work I have admired  from afar. Some of you reading this may have seen Amazing Paper Grace, her blog, before - if not, it is well worth a visit when Becca is back as she is a really gifted card maker.

Now, I have been busy doing lots of something, but don't really know what that might be....I started Christmas shopping, but tore my hamstring while waiting for a bus home, so that slowed me down a bit.  I have made a few cards - not many.  I have been helping the eldest granddaughter face her final exams at year 12, and with some assignments and planning in-class essays. The last essay we got an A-, and 2 B+'s (not too bad)! The painters are due again today (not showed up yet!) but we are ready for them.

Anyway, the cards:


The bush is supposed to represent a gum tree rather than a pine, the traditional christmas tree - after all, we are in Australia. As a child, we usually had a native tree to decorate. The WMS Nutcraker stamp set is used here, and for the sentiment for the one below.


This card is made with left-over's from the SU punch I used to make the leaves for the tree - couldn't waste those birds, so make this quickly out of left-overs. 

The next two are made as a result of a class I missed because I was ill a few weeks ago - but the kit was kept for me. I made them up quickly - don;t usually like the peel-offs, but every now and then, they work well. The top one uses acetate and a folded over top of the black card, with an insert with a photocopy of a map showing on the outside through the acetate, and being able to write inside it - sent it to my baby brother for his birthday! The car was peeled off and stuck on black card and then fussy-cut before attaching it to the acetate.


This one came in the kit also, and is another way of using the peel-offs, and again the big car was stuck on black card, fussy-cut and then attached with dimentionals to lift it off the base card. The black card was folded at the back and had a white card attached as the back, and then when the three smaller cars were attached and fussy-cut around at the top, the white showed through.  The peel-off is all shiny and sparkly. Both cards took about 15 minutes each to make. 

Thursday 4 November 2010

New November blog candy

Aud Sentiments has new blog candy for November and guess what it is! Annabell Stamps! Yeah! So, here is the  word on it and here is the link to them, so go and enter and get in the mix to win the stamps.

Sunday 31 October 2010

One of a Kind

The first card is for There She Goes sketch challenge #78.
The second card is for the Annabelle Sketch Challenge + bling.

The first one was also for the last Papercraftstar photo inspiration challenge, where I used the colours from the photo to inspire me and the Tuesday's Throwdown #22  "anything goes', but I was too late for both of them!


I have used SU DP's and a piece of Co'ordinations card which I lightly sanded. The sentiment comes from the SU set One of a Kind, but the image is a Crafty Individuals C1 - 193. I used Momento Rich Cocoa ink, used a Copic for the pink breast and sponged the edges of the SU oval punch I used for the sentiment. I then added a piece of greenish ribbon and mounted it all on SU kraft card, and it's done.


This card is using the papers from a Papermania set called Silent Night. The image and sentiment are from WMS set Nutcrackers.  I have added some ribbon and some green sprinkles for bling! The image is coloured with Copics after being stamped in Memento ink Rich Cocoa on cream card. 

It's a rainy day today but warm - not as rainy as the mainland I hear, but still a bit wet. We had 1.2 cm last night and it is drizzling as I speak. Had my first seen huntsman in the house Friday night - yuk! He/she was lively and BIG.  Poor John had to get out of bed and get on a stepladder and remove him/her from the bedroom! Time to call the spiderman to come back and make sure they desist from entering. 

Wednesday 27 October 2010

A couple of digi images for Christmas

Little Paper Shop has a sketch challenge #91 going at the moment, and I had a free digi image from them ready to colour up with the copics, so that's what happened! Delightful Challenges also allows two entries into their current challenge if you use an image from them, and they had this funny winter flamingo as a freebie this month, so again, I coloured it up with copics!


The flamingo is mounted on pink scrap card, and then on a piece of SU Whisper White which was folded into a card, and then one side had been put through the bug embossing folder with snowflakes. A scrap of ribbon tied through a button from Memory Keeper, and the WSM sentiment stamp in black completed this. 



This sketch #91 from LPS suited the image, which I had printed off and then put through a nestabilities square, and embossed.  I coloured the image with Copics, and then masked it and sponged it with blue ink lightly.  I used some glitter on the image to look like ice as well. The image called 'Katie Skating' was mounted on a scrap of Co'ordinations and then put between two pieces of Kaiser paper, on a background of pink card.  I used some paper ribbon on the bottom for the sentiment. 

Worked for four hours today - enjoyed it greatly.  

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge

Yes, another card. This one is for Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #79, and for Tuesday Throwdown #22 - Anything Goes, as well as Delightful Challenges - "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"

I had inked up the St Nicholas stamp from WMS set Nutcracker, and stamped some images onto the X-press card, after I had cut out the shapes from Nestablilites Labels 4, ready to be coloured with Copics.  However, I had not done any colouring-in for a while, and felt the need to feed the inner child. That's why this is a Christmas card.


 I used card from the DCWV Citrus stack to back the image and to make the oval and scallop behind it. The background is a piece of scrap red I had put through an embossing folder in the bug and had sprayed with mica spray,so it has a bit of a shimmer. The blue also has a shimmer.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set. The card is a commercial blank and I added three small poinsettia's that I picked up at a craft fair earlier this year.

I did some relief work yesterday, and will go back tomorrow and work for the rest of the week.  A bit of a shock to the system! So, I probably won't get much crafting done. But, who knows......

Sunday 24 October 2010

Clean and Simple Challenge

Am I too late - hope not!

Clean and Simple FTL#112 sketch challenge
There She Goes TSG #77 Colour challenge - green, black and orange
Annabelle stamps - "Say it in - black and white" challenge


I used a background paper from DCWV All Dressed Up, some ribbon, the stamp set from TSG called Art is the Window and a Prima flower.  All mounted on SU orange card. I stamped the sentiment with SU Craft white ink and didn't get a really clean print with it - it looked OK before I embossed it and the bird with clear embossing powder. I will go back to Versamark I think for this type of thing. 


This is a Flourish stamp set called City of David and the sentiment is from a WMS set. I stamped it on black card with Craft white SU ink - very juicy - and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I then added some ribbon, pearls and mounted it on a shiny white bazzil and then on a black and white background paper before putting it onto a white commercial blank. The ribbon is sparkly and the embossing also sparkles but the photograph does not show that properly. Poor camera work - sorry.