Three subdued and one NOT

Well. so far this week I have made three soft and dreamy cards and one that just screams at you - first the softies.  This one is cased:  I used SU DP Afternoon Tea; a piece of white card to stitch it to with embroidery thread (by hand!); a Tim Holtz grungepaper heart, painted white; some flowers; a heart brad; several pieces of bling. I wrote 'amore' using a SU black writer. The whole lot is on a red card card! This one can be for an engagement, wedding or anniversary, or just 'cause card.

This one uses those lucious specialist Japanese papers, all shiny and pretty.  I used two different papers - one for the band, leaf and stem - and a flower from Dress It Up Fab Flowers.  The sentiment is from WMS Asian Gardens, and the edge is from SU Lace Edge punch. I used it on the edge of the card, a Bazzil White. pretty, huh! The ink is SU Taken with Teal.

The last of the pretty ones, is using SU Brocade Blue, stamped with Baja Breeze using the Baroque Motifs.  The sentiment was stamped on white card with SU Congrats, and the edge of the card was then wiped with glue, and some blue glitter added.  It is still gently shedding glitter at the moment, but eventually it will settle down.  Then I tied some white satin ribbon onto the blue card, which had been mounted on some white, and then mounted these onto another piece of blue, which was mounted onto a white card commerial blank.

Told you it was a bit different! Very 'Australian' in the colour selection.  I used SU Glorious Green, Close to Cocoa, and Yoyo Yellow.  I ran the green through the Cuttlebug, using the embossing folder from Sissix called Diamonds and Dots.  I then cut out the shapes using Nestabilities Labels 1.  The edge punch from Martha Stewart called suprisingly Stars was used on the yellow card scrap.  The white label had yellow ink sponged around the edge, and the flag holding the sentiment did as well.  The sentiment comes from SU Happy Moments.  The tulip is from SU Botanical Blooms, with the flower having to be stamped twice, cut out once and mounted on top of the other one.  Then add buttons, ric-rac, and brads - mount it all as shown and then onto a mustard yellow commercial blank!

Little Paper Shop Sketch Challenge

Creative Cottage Challenge - Touchy Feely:  please scroll to the third card)

Went to a 70th birthday lunch today at Wrest Point Casino.  Very pleasant meal and company.  Decided at 10.00 that the card I had did not suit the recipient, so made another one in a big hurry.  Used the sketch from LPS as a guide and so decided this evening to enter it into the Challenge.

Little Paper Shop Sketch Challenge

It's a man's card (obviously) so used an image from a stamp set of which I have not kept the name (it is a clear plastic one, with a golfer and a fisher on it as well - Kaiser?).  Stamped the image and sentiment with black Memento ink and coloured it with Copics.  Use the Cuttlebug and some scrap card in yellow and blue to cut  lables from Spellbinders Nestabilities Lable 1. A scrap of DP from Mind's Eye - Confetti Series  and a background paper from 7gypies - the journey set. The third scrap piece is a DP from Stampin'Up.  Finished it off with foam numbers, and use SU Craft to make the base card.

Then I had made another card (cased).  This one is a very simple one cased directly from Jayne Mercer - her work is so lovely - I thought the flower was made using the scalloped punch from SU so tried it out using some SU paper Tea Party. Thought mine lack the oomph of hers, but may be the choice of colours.

The stamp set used are SU Botanical Blooms for the sentiment and One of a Kind for the embellishment.

I used a SU jewelled brad for the centre of the bloom - cut out, sprayed with water, and scrunched. Think I should have inked the edges as well, perhaps in Melon Mambo?  The card is a shiny white commercial blank. (Have done this in Melon Mambo and it looks better!)

Creative Cottage Challenge - Touchy Feely:

                                  

I scanned the page of the Oxford Dictionary for birthdays, and then enlarged the printed section I wanted and changed the colour of the page to a old look.  Then attached to craft card.  I make the flowers out of my SU scalloped punch, the circle punch and some SU DP scraps.  I used an old circle stamp for the dots and the pink circle centres, and the SU Think Happy Thoughts for the sentiment circle. I added small pink buttons with embroidery thread. The stalks and leaves were freehand and the grass was scrap card with the Fiskars scalloped edge punch. The grass and leaves were sponged with bright green ink. The journey sentiment comes from Waltzing Mouse stamps - Asian Garden's Additions. Finished it and thought - I always seem to go back to pink and green!

No Challenges in this post

This will be a long post!

Phew - it's been a busy few days for us retired folks!  I have had my usual volunteer thingys on Monday and Wednesday, and then have I told you that we are renovating out kitchen?  We have been at this for several months and have now purchased all the white goods, signed the deal with a builder and now it looks as if it will all go ahead in the second week in September.  So, if I don't post as regularly it may be because I am somewhat busy with other things!

Now, the card above was made for a male friend who turned 70 last week.  The image is from a wine bottle - Mr Duncan - but it was too good to thrown away.  Some red card through the Cuttlebug with a Sissix folder, and backed onto some tan paper.  This is then backed onto brown card.  The 70 was cut out of Tim Holtz Grunge paper and sprayed with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - Peppermint Stick.  This didn't work as well as I thought so I then painted it with white Gesso and sprayed it again - it was a bit better.  Edged around them with Krylon Gold Pen.  I then added some string. 

The base or inside of the easle card:  tan card punched with Fiskars Loop Punch, and I added the metal tag Dream which was floating in the stash, so I don't know where it came from. The sentiment was typed up and then edged with SU Close to Cocoa ink, as is all the other card pieces except for the brown blank.

Here is a close up of the card front: don't you love the relaxed style of Mr Duncan!

                                     

Then I did my usual cut up of magazines where I can get ideas from or case a good card.  I cased this one from the UK magazine CARDS, but not sure whose it was. 

                                            

Have only just realise that it has slipped off the hanger! Must fix that up! So, yellow SU card blank, and then some lilac card, and whisper white - put through the Cuttlebug with a Swiss Dots folder.  This was sponged with SU Melon Mambo ink. The hanger is made from gold wire twisted into shape.  The dress - scraps of DP, punched with SU's scalloped edge punch and then inked with Melon Mambo ink.  The scraps were stuck to a spare bit of card and I handcut the whole skirt shape.  The top is made of JAC paper and tinsel.  It was fun to made but fiddly to get it organised.  Again, I handcut the shape for the bodice. Some pink bling and a flower centre jewel from Prima finished it off.  Looks sweet I thought.

                                             

Got three parcels from Japan from a friend there and had to made a thank you card for these.  I thought I would try and be 'Japanesy' so took out the Waltzing Mouse Stamp set called Asian Garden, and some things from the extra set Asian gardens additions.  Also used an old foam stamp for the sign 'wisdom' and small letters to make the sentiment 'Arigato' which means thank you in Japanese. I also used a pice of special Japanese paper as a background, and some pink handmade silk paper, as well as the SU Whisper White.  I edged the white card with SU Melon Mambo and use that for the lantern, sign and sentiment. I used SU Soft Suede and Old Olive for the tree.  The whole thing is on a piece of green sparkly Bazzil card.

Last one! This is another case from the same magazine already mentioned.  I used a piece of light brown card that is a bit flimsy but it distressed so well, I thought I would go with it. It is not Bazzil - came in a pack, but don't know the name of the manufacturer. 

                                                

Cut the circles using SU punches - three diferent sizes - from green Co'ordinations and distressed them by filing the edges. The tree trunk is cut from wood veneer GIVEN TO ME by my husband from the workshop! (Don't faint!) I stuck it to JAC paper to make it easier to cut out but it was tricky.  A sticker behind the tree, and a red heart sticker on the tree, some ribbon and some distressing around the base card and a rub-on at the top, as well as letter stickers for DAD.  Inside also used some letter stickers. I thought it looked very effective and it was simple.

                                                      

So, that's all for now - perhaps I will enter some Challenges now!

Christmas Cards - oh no, not again!

I promised myself that I would not start too soon on the Christmas Cards but then I decided that I would and so dug out the Christmas box and fossicked through all the bits and came up with this for the Annabelle Stamps Sketch Challenge #026.

No sentiment - just papers, a stamp that I then covered up with bling, some inked edges with SU Old Olive, and two lables 4 from Spellbinders. All the card is SU - Kiwi Kiss, and Chocolate Chip, while the DP is from Basic Grey Blitzen Collection.  I'm just starting off slowly.

I also decided to enter Just Scraps Challenge #15 Love is in the Air.  It is a wedding card.

                                              

Two circles cut from card that had been oversprayed with Tsukinek Stains and Moon Shadow Mists.  The wings and legs and faces and beaks and heart and sentinement are all freehand - the wings and beaks were cut out and attached, and the others drawn in. The circles are on dimentionals to lift them off the card - a commercial white blank card.

                                                        

You should be able to see some shimmer effect here - it is really shimmery and shiney on the bird bodies, but this photo doesn't do it justice. BestI could do however, it gets dark pretty early here at the moment!

Teach a Man to Fish.....

This photo was taken inside and so it is not a clear in colours as it should be - I have entered it for the Aud Sentiments Challenge #6 - No Sentiment!  Hopefully the word 'beer' is not classed as a sentiment.....

Here is what is inside!

                                                 

The stamps and sentiments come from There She Goes - LOL Taglines and the fishes come from I Break for Stamps - Best Fishes. The fisher comes from Stampscapes inc. - Fisherman in Boat. All relevant stamps are coloured with Copics.  The main image is sponged with SU Tangerine Tango ink and the inside sentiment also stamped with this.  The images were stamped with Memento black ink before colouring.  They were then layered - the fishes on the outside were stamped twice, coloured twice and then one lot cut out and layered over the other to give some dimention. The image is then layered on pale blue and then orange card stock scraps, and the whole is placed on top of a blue card whcih had been through the Cuttlebug embossing folder Bubbles, with a top green card.  The join was covered with a strip of orange card stamped with a WSM stamp from the Pic Nic set in SU Tangerine Tango. I added a blue brad and a metal anchor to the top right corner. All this is on a card made from SU Bashful Blue.

Chocolate and Orange....mmmmm

Annabell Stamps have a new colour challenge - Chocolate and Orange together in a card.  I have just received a package ordered from A Cherry on Top and it contained some lucious card from Co'ordinations that I used in this challenge - excuses, I know, but I just had to use some! It's a man's birthday card.  There is an inset with a birthday message sticker on it added as well. Also added it to the current Challenge at Little Paper Shop for their LSP Monday where you had to add a distressed bit to your work - mine is torn, inked and sanded!

The paper is the left over from the box making last week - a freebie in a magazine.  The scrumptious card under it is Co'ordinations and the ribbon was purchased as is from a bin from the craft fair on Friday. The brads with the sentiment and the cake and the pressie were from the parcel today (ACOT) - yes, I know, but just had to...... and are from Karen Foster Designs ......swiped the DP with brown ink and sanded the orangy-pink dots to show up, layered and attached all to a baby 'nappie yellow' card blank I was given early this year. Added three star brads in orange on top LHS.

Had the grandy girls over for tea, and their parents, and just finished washing up, in PJ's and just a quick post before settling down in front of TV for a while  - it is a delight to be with teenagers at times, isn't it - especially when you don't have to live with it on a daily basis.  So much fun......

Mercy, a bruised toe!

A few days ago I went to visit a neighbour and managed to slip on her step, and land with all my considerable weight onto the tip of my right big toe - thought it was broken there for a while, but several xrays later, it's not but it is bruised and swollen and a bit difficult to walk on! However, I have survived - a woose but alive.

This photo was taken three days later.

In the meantime, I have made another card for another two Challenges - a sketch and a colour challenge. 

The sketch is from Lord Have Mercy but I missed the time frame, and other is from the colorthrowdown #100 Challenge.

                                   

I used SU card and SU Baroque Motifs for the swirl, and SU Baja Breeze ink to stamp that.  I also used black Memento ink for the sentiment. This is a Verve stamp - Love. Add one flower and a Prima flower centre, and the Cuttlebug to emboss the green in Quickutz - Diamonds and Dots, cut out the shape with a Tim Holtz Alterations - Movers and Shapers and add some ribbon and pearls. I outlined the blue card with some faux stitches in white gel pen, and put the whole lot on a blank beige commercial card. I also used the Baja breeze to sponge onto the edges of the shape.

Off to put the toe up!

Platypus in the River.....

We went to Ross on Wednesday.  It is a small country town in the centre of Tasmania, an area know imaginatively as 'the Midlands'. We were meeting friends who had flown into northern Tassie to visit family, and Ross was halfway between the two of us.  It was a lovely day - I call them blue winter days - the temperature was about 13 at the highest, but there was no wind, and we got to see out friends and enjoy a lovely meal at the Ross pub. Before we met with them, John and I stopped at the Ross bridge - 'constructed by convict labour in 1836, it is the third oldest bridge still in use in Australia. Commissioned by Lieutenant-Governor Arthur, the bridge was designed by architect John Lee Archer, with the convict work team including two stonemasons, James Colbeck and Daniel Herbert, the latter being credited with the intricate carvings along both sides of the bridge' (Wikipedia).  In other words - its lovely.

While taking these pictures I saw a small animal with its back to me in the water at the edge of the river.  It was nosing into the mud and fissicking around.  It took my mind several seconds to recognise it, and when I did I was so suprised I let out a noise and scared it into the river, where it swam off - it was a platypus!  Took me a few seconds to raise the camera and get some shots off. It is not often you see them in daylight and in civilisation - really topped off my day.

Now, to the card - I have made a card for two challenges this afternoon, while listening to Hawthorn nearly beating Geelong at footy - I combined the two challenges into one card.

Little Paper Shop Colour Challenge - LPSC#75:  orchid, razzleberry, olive
Mojo Monday Sketch - MOJO146

The green bazzil card as a base, some SU Lovely Lilac, some DP from DCWV Pocket full of Posies stack, green ribbon purchased yesterday from the craft fair, and an image from Thereshegoes - Treemendous (sentiment too), and stamped in SU Old Olive.  Kaiser bling added.  An interesting combination of colours - not something I would have chosen to go together before this. Darn, Hawthrorn have lost by two points!

Cards in a Box

OK, I am hooked on challenges now - this one is for Creative Cottage and is called "No Cards Allowed".  It is Challenge #18.

Now, I was making a present for my friend whose birthday was on Tuesday, so I combined the two things.  Then, would you  believe it, splitcoaststamping sent me the weekly newsletter, and there was a tutorial for a box with a drawer!  So, it was meant to be. I used their template and made the box, and covered it with paper and embellishments taken from 'freebie'papers that came in a magazine.  Now, I have a habit of either throwing these into a drawer (if I think I will use them) or into a big brown bag (if I think I will not use them) and of giving the bag to various friends of mine who teach primary school, and who love to get fresh 'stash' for the classroom. What I don't do is record who or where I got them from, so I have no idea from where I got this paper or the embellishments, except I had to cut them out of one sheet, and the other sheet had some too on the back of the DP and I had to choose which one I wanted to use the most.  Would have liked to have had the use of both sides on both sheets, but 'thems the break'! The box is made from SU Tempting Turquoise and apart from 2 orange brads, and some sticky and some bling, that's all it was.

I added four cards - here are three that I made today for the box and the fourth was an old one, made several months ago. However, discovered after I made it that the envelopes wouldn't fit the box - yes, I measured for the card size but envelopes are slightly bigger - bugger! Here are the cards:

                                       

I used the Cuttlebug and embossed onto the cards using the folder called Edges. I then rubbed each edge with ink or in one case blue chalk, helped to raise their profile on the card. Some ribbon, DP scraps and stuff from the stash, and an added insert in each one completed the cards.

                                                    

This card used white gel pen also to highlight the flowers, and white ink, and the bird from  the SU Bird Punch provided the bird and branch.  I also stamped a sentiment from TJ Designs - Songbirds using Memento Black ink.  I used several images from this set also on the inset to decorate it a bit.

                                                       

This card used a rub-on and a Prima flower - isn't it lucious.  In addition, I used a bit of 7 Gypies gafer tape and was quite pleased with the effect. The ink pad I used here is a Splendour Pastel chalks - one of those with lots of colours - and I used the green end which had three different greens in it. Enough for now, cheers,

Another Birthday in July....

This month there are a lot of birthdays....and one special one is that of my friend Bev, who turns 70 on Friday.  This is the woman who introduced me to sailing, and to my husband.  So, you can see she is a special friend and someone who is full of positive energy. This birthday for her will be lowkey as her partner is going into hospital on Thursday to have a knee replacement done.  We had a celebration last night for her at my house with my family who all know her as an 'aunt'. It was fun.

Her card is simple and the charms are nautical for a reason. The card is from the Coredination's Whitewash collection, and the ribbon is from Joann's in the USA. The numbers are handcut.  The card went through the cuttlebug and was embossed with a Tim Holtz embossing folder.  The bottoms of the card and paper are punched with SU border punches. The base card is SU Elegant Eggplant and the whole is swiped with the ink in the same colour around the edges. The button is a heart one from a local craft shop with the back of the button cut off.  Simple and elegant, like my friend. Cheers. my dears.......

Another Day, another Challenge

This one is for the Little Paper Shop Design Sketch Challenge LPSC74.  And what a challenge this is - you had to stamp directly onto Designer Paper, so for me this was scary.  This is the result:

The paper is a DP from Stampin'Up called Tea Party - the background therefore is in Amost Amethyst.  I used SU inks Elegant Eggplant and Orchid Opulence for the flowers, and Wild Wasabi for the leaves. The base card is Certainly Celery.  The stamped  images are from WMS Big Blooms and the sentiment is from SU One of a Kind stamp set. I added some bling and some purple satin ribbon to complete.  The sentiment and the paper have Orchid Opulence swiped around the edges, and I masked the big bloom after inking it in and then placed the smaller flowers and leaves by stamping onto part of the mask. I wanted a softer look so did not worry that the ink pads were not too juicy. Inside has a birthday message stamped onto some Tea Party paper with the Orchid Opulence ink. Cheerio, I'm back to the craft table!

So, I then had another go at another Challenge - lots of energy this weekend! This one is another sketch challenge  - its for Annabelle Stamps - ABSC025

I really love quirky sentiments, so combined this one from There She Goes - LOL with one of the ladies from Shirley's2Girls - Housework.  I used both the Cuttlebug and a Nestability circle and then my SU Circle Scissor to get the circle cut out, so SU ribbon, and sponged everything with SU Apricot Appeal ink.  The papers are from the stash and the background paper is Kaiser - Little Man.  The image is coloured with the copics.  Inside, I made it into a birthday card with a somewhat cheeky greeting, for a girlfriend's birthday on Tuesday!

Guess that will do me for the moment - unless, there may be time for one more...........

Double trouble.....

Took all afternoon to complete this card - it is for Just Scraps Challenge #14 - Make Mine a Double.  Jean was in a mood to clean up!

This challenge was supposed to do two things - complete a piece of unfinished business on the craft desk and to double up  - either by making two or having two things. Well, I did the first - I have had the Stampin'Up Bird Punch for a while and apart from playing with the bird wings to make tulips (later...) I had not done a lot but had several birds and twigs punched out in different paper and card. So, decided to make these up and get rid of them from the desk.....several hours later I have several more birds and twigs and lots of paper scrap and only one card made, but it was fun. The birds are punched from some SU Whisper White that was oversprayed with Moonglows Shadow Mists - as a protective sheet against spraying everything on the desk.  I find that I use this sheet afterwards for so many things that I don't mind using a full sheet or two each time I have a mind to play with the misters.  This sheet had a bit of pink in the gold spray, so I used a black and pink Core'dinations card and put it through the Cuttlebug using an embossing folder from Sizzix called Woodgrain by Tim Holtz. I then sanded it lightly to bring out the pink core.  I had a chipboard rectange that came with a new pink top I purchased this morning, so recycled it to take the rubon, which is on more of the oversprayed card. The ribbon is one by Celebrate. I mounted the black card onto gold card and then both onto a deeper pink before making a card from lighter pink - SU Pretty in Pink and attaching the whole to that.  There is also a sheet of white paper glued inside with another bird attached on the bottom and a birthday message.

So, between listening to the footy and enjoying the fading afternoon, and listening to the birds singing outside (the one's who have decided to remain this winter so far)  I made just one card! BUT, I have a few extra birds for future use now and have used up some of the scrap stash at least. Cheers,

Heading towards Summer

Now, I know it is not summer! BUT, the days are getting longer and today is such a lovely winter blue day, with sunshine and blue skies and no wind - yes, I know it only got to about 9 degrees........anyway, I made a summer card because I wanted to go into Creative Cottage Team's Challenge #17 - Summer and then I really liked the sketch at Lord Have Mercy Sketch Challenge #80 (MTSC80), so I combined the two into this card!

I used an image from SU's Summer by the Sea stamp set and coloured it in with Copics.  I used my SU Circle Cutter to cut a half circle out and then sliced off the LHS.  I put a paper doily underneath, and sponged it first on the edging with SU Tempting Turquoise and then Apricot Appeal of both the circle and the doily.  The sentiment (from the same stamp set)  is also treated in the same way, after being stamped with Tempting Turquoise. I used a Martha Stewart edge punch - Doily Hearts, and also for the butterfly. These are done in red card (from the stash pack) and the sentiment is layered on the same. The whole is layered onto Gemstones gold card, SU Tempting Turquoise and then a card blank made from SU Riding Hood Red. The ribbon is one from Creation Station. I think it has a slightly 1950's summer feel to it - which is sort of suited really! Cheers,

Now, what was that made of?

Auld Sentiments Challenge #5 and chance to win some Blog Candy! I have also added the said candy pikki to my sidebar - and you can follow the link back to the blog to find out more!

Now, what is that last card made from? Well, I used a scrap of background paper from SandyLion which I have had for a while ( and love because of the pretty muted colours); I used white Prima flowers, coloured with Copic Pens to match the Jena Fairy digi colouring. Notice how strong that pink is!!!  Now know to knock the colour back a bit I think when doing that - too strong.  I used my Stampin'Up jewel brads in the centre of the flowers; stamped a swirl from SU Baroque Motives and the heart from SU A Happy Heart in SU Wild Wasabi ink; and added some green pearls from Kaiser, I think. Layered up the heart, the digi and then all of it onto pink card and then used yellow for my base card - I also added some more of the SandyLion paper inside the card to complete it. Oh, and I highlighted one LOVE on the heart in a dark green Copic. Thank you Pam, for the digi. Cheers, folks.