Away in Melbourne

Well, we have been  in Melbourne for a week, visiting family and took the opportunity to go to the European Masters (19th-20th C)  Exhibition at the National Art Gallery in the city, while there - fabulous! We were so lucky to see these paintings which usually hang in the Stadel Museum in Frankfurt.  There are renovations going on in Germany and so we get to see them here in the antipodes!

Now, I have been home for several days and have made a few cards.  Here is one I am entering in the Annabelle Stamps Sketch Challenge, and the Aud Sentiments challenge - anything goes.

Annabelle Stamps ABSC029
Aud Sentiments Challenge #9

HOW?

Stamped image and sentiment, used circle punch to punch out sentiment; then inked edges of tree image with green and brown ink, and mounted on some orange scrap. Stamped the continuous sentiment onto the green card strip with brown ink, and used this as a ribbon beneath the image. Layered circle sentiment onto the circle die cut with a dimensional. Added the die cut scalloped edge to the LHS of image.  Mounted stamped strip, image and die cut circle onto the DP. This DP has an embossed feel and is quite luscious.  Added pearls

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Made with:

Card: SU cream for the blank and Whisper White for the sentiment and image, green strip scrap, orange scrap

Paper: DP from the Kaiser pad Lush collection

Stamps: Annabelle TreeMENdous set - both image and sentiments

Inks: SU Old Olive and Tangerine Tango, and Memento Rich Cocoa

Other: dimentionals, pearls (brown and green), die cuts from Lush Collection 

Here are some other images from our trip.  The first is a picture taken in Melbourne just outside the National Gallery, looking at some of the newer glass towers that have grown in South Bank lately. The second is taken up near Sylvan Dam and shows the two stone pillars that my husband (as a boy) and his father built at Calarama, at the beginning of their driveway to the holiday house, back in the late 1930's. They sold the home after WWII, and it was subsequently burnt down in a bush fire, but it has been rebuilt several times apparently.  But, the stone pillars are still there and my DH was quite excited to find them! We went for a drive up to the Dandenong's with a friend on Monday, and had lunch at Sassafras, and then headed of towards Calarama before returning home.

Another Father's Day Card

Am running late with this one, but want to enter it into There she Goes Sketch Challenge TSG#67.

I made this by simply following the sketch outline, after I stamped the 'Dadisms' several times onto a piece of SU Mellow Moss card to use as a background. I used the Cuttlebug and a Nestabilities Circle to cut out main image.

Things I used:

Card:  SU Mellow Moss and Whisper White, blank made from Tempting Turquoise

DP:  Pink Paislee -Spring Fling Collection

Stamps:  There She Goes - Dadisms

Ink:  Memento black for images, and Rich Cocoa for text

Other:  Coloured in Copics,

Dadisms....

Can you remember all those things Dad used to say to you?  I laughed out loud when I got my stamp set from There She Goes called Dadisms because I knew every one of them and have heard them many times as a child! My lovely Dad has been gone for nearly 30 years now, but I can still see his face and hear his voice as he says some of these things.

My youngest granddaughter has decreed that Father's Day in Canberra this year is null and void as it clashes with her seventh birthday! However, I have made some cards hoping that the ban does not extend to Tasmania! This one is following Lord Have Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #86 - MTSC86.

I stamped the image of the man first, and coloured it with Copics.  I then masked this and overstamped it with the Dadisms.  Then followed Mercy's sketch to put it together. I made it using the following:

Card:  SU Brillian blue for base card; Basic Brown and Mellow Moss

DP: SU Designed Series Kiwi Kiss

Stamps: There She Goes -Dadisms; Annabelle Stamps - TreeMENdous

Ink:  Memento Basic black and Rich Cocoa

Other:  Ribbon and brads.

This is the inside of the card.

Blog Candy Monthly Offer!

Aud Sentiments are having a great offer at the moment - they are going to have a monthly drawing for blog candy, with the first lot of candy supplied by De Nami Design Rubber Stamps.  If you go to Aud Sentiments blog by clicking on this link, you can read all about it. Meanwhile I have some information here about the sponsor!

We are so lucky to have DeNami Design Rubber Stamps as our first sponsor. They have a wonderful selection of rubber stamps and other goodies and they are giving the winner a $30 Gift Certificate to spend in their store! WOW! Thank you Denami Design! Here is a little bit about their company...


"Established in 1989, Denami Design has been known for a timeless style featuring simply elegant art. From our extensive line of quality rubber stamps to the newer line of coordinating scrapbook papers, buttons, ribbons and glitters, we specialize in stylish and sophisticated products. These delightful designs are easy to mix and match for a designer look on all your paper crafts!"

They also have a challenge blog. Here is the link. Check it out! They have fun challenges over there!

This candy will go on until Tuesday, August 31 and we will announce the winner on Wednesday, September 1.

It Rained!

Finally! We got over three and a half inches or 8.8 cm of rain over 36 hours.  It is sunny now, however, and not too cold, with the occasional shower - and the bay is full of brown water from the run-off because the ground was so dry it couldn't soak in for a while, BUT we got enought to finally do some good and people on tanks got them full and much more. Almost no rain for one and a half months in winter is not fun.

I made this card for the following challenges:
Little Paper Shop - LPSC#80, a sketch challenge
Aud Sentiment Challenge #8 - use the word 'relax' in a card!

I sponged the edges with the ink, and pricked out the edging.  The word is added with letter sickers. Annabelle Stamps gave me a packet of Sprinkles and they just suited it, so they got added at the last moment. The image is coloured with Copics. I used the following to make it:

Card:  SU Mellow Moss

Stamp: Image - Thereshegoes: By the Sea; Sentiment - Inky Antics

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa

Other: ribbon, Annabelle Stamps Sprinkles; DP scraps; letter stickers Lettraset

Young at Heart........

Ain't we all! It is a friend's birthday next week and he is just that - "young at heart" and so the sentiment from the set of the same name at Little Paper Shop really suited a card for him.  I used the birthday boy's upcoming celebrations and the sketch challenge at Annabelle Stamps (ABSC#27) - plus bling - with the colour theme from a challenge at Colour Throwdown #104 - tangerine tango, daffodil delight, and old olive - to come up with his card. Unfortunately, I was too late for the Colour Throwdown challenge to enter but I liked the colour combo so used it, although I didn't have exactly the same colours.

Sorry about the photo but it was getting late and it was cold outside and I thought it would be OK, but obviously I was probably shaking with cold after being in the nice, warm craft room all afternoon - cleaning up, not crafting! The image is from a Paperartsy stamp set called At Home - Plate 5.  It is stamped with Memonto ink - Rich Cocoa, as is the sentiment.  Plus there is bling! The card is SU Old Olive and So Saffron, with some Pumpkin Pie used to mount the image. The edge punch is from Fiskars. The DP is from SU also. There is an insert with a rub-on sentiments.

Back to the craft table!

There She Goes Watercolour Challenge #66

There She Goes Watercolour Challenge #66

I have some great TSG stamps, but I had this digi image from Mo's Digital Pencil, already coloured with watercolour pencils and an aqua pen when I was experimenting with colouring techniques, so decided to clean it up out of the stash and use that. I added some Smooch blue and yellow to the car, and used that - along with some SU Pacific Blue ink , to colour the number, which is hand drawn and cut from some Tim Holtz grunge paper.  I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the Happy Birthday on the background card, and to cut out the label using Nestbilities Label 4. I popped the number up with some dimentionals.

 Brr, it's turned cold - wish it would rain!

Miss Mercy's Sketch Challenge

An entry for Lord Have Mercy's Tuesday Sketch #85  (MTSC85)

Not very happy with this and not very happy with my computer.  (It is very slow at present whenever I try to do anything with the internet.  Frustrating! ) However, I will have to put it in as I cannot get myself motivated before the deadline to do another!

All card used is from SU card, and the DP's are from DCWV's Pocket full of Posies stack. The brad is from Kaiser.  The image is stamped with Momento black and coloured with Copics and comes from There She Goes ROLF Taglines, as do the accompanying sentiments. Ribbon is from Making Memories. Here is the inside.

                                      

Cheers,

It's Raining!

There is even talk of snow on the mountain! WOW - finally, after all it is winter!

One card - two Challenges today:

Little Paper Shop   LSPC#79

Mojo Monday 150 Contest - MOJO150

I used the colours from LPS of Bright Blue, Chocolate and Bright Pink with the sketch from Mojo to create this.  I have so many bits of stash laying around that I decided to use scraps of paper to complete this so spent the next hour searching for the correct bits of paper and card to match up.  I then used the SU stamping set Happy Thoughts for the sentiment and I used a Martha Stewart edge punch Doily for the scalloped bottom of the lips card, by Elsie called Claire First Kiss. I bought this origionally to make a card for my eldest granddaughter when she turned 16! The Chocolate chip is behind the striped paper which also has brown on it, and there are brown spots on the spotty paper as well. The whole lot is on a white card blank.  I used the SU scalloped circle punch and the big circle punch from SU for the centre. Some ribbon and two pink brads to complete.

                                      

I also made a card using the free flower stamp from Craft Stamper last month by Innovative Stamp Creations (love it) and stamped with black ink (Memento) onto red card that had been through a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I then took a piece of Whisper White and stamped three flowers onto that at a regular interval.  I then photocopied this and cut out the flowers on the photocopy to create masks for the flowers, and once they were in place, overstamped the sheet with a large script background stamp using SU Riding Hood Red ink. After sponging the edges with more of this ink, it was mounted onto black card. I added the red flowers with glittery brads. The background paper for this card did not have its name on it but has distressed multi-coloured stripes on the back - its a great paper. The whole was put onto a red folded card and is quite tall.  I also like the grungy look of the flowers and the not quite perfect stamping fades a bit.

I have been painting with acrylic paint - this is my first attempt! (Not complete yet I may add).  I have been learning to get a reflection on the water - very interesting.  Hopeless artist of course, but I do enjoy it!

A pinch and a punch.......

Lord Have Mercy Challenge Sketch #84 (Please scroll down to forth card)

...for the first of the month!  How many of us have endured brothers taking a delight in this little ditty to inflict undue and unwarrented punishments on us poor sisters at the beginning of a month?  Must admit, HUB still likes to be first in but the pinch and punch are not as hard. 

This card evolved from one I saw in a magazine - I really like the fact that the papers were allowed to carry the glam factor.  I used SU papers Bella Blue - and a scrap piece of Bazzil for the stamped image.  The background paper is a piece of shiny card I bought at a craft fair (no name on pack), and a piece of pink ribbon to finish off.  I used Momento ink for the image - London Fog - and coloured with Copic pens.  The sentiment was hand written.  I used a rub-on for the card insert - a Kaiser one about Love. The card itself is a cream textured commercial blank.  It all looks very classy.

This one followed on - I really liked the shiney look of Gemstones card, and this would be one of my favourite colours and I had some new ribbon that matched it......and I had already embossed this card with the Cuttlebug and it was just sitting on my desk, so...... with the help of a Fiskars Loop edge punch, two pearls and a black pen to write the sentiment - voila, it is complete! A textured white commercial blank, and an inset with another Kaiser's quote rub-on was also added.

I also had an orange embossed card from a time when I was trying to use up scrap card laying around with the Cuttlebug, so sticking to CAS, I stressed the edges,  mounted it on dark blue card and tied some ribbon around it; then put it on some SU Ballet Blue card folded into a card blank. I added one of those amazing Prima flowers with the bling centre to complete the card.  Took me about 10 minutes!

This one took a little longer. I am entering it into the Lord Have Mercy Challenge.  I had some new clear stamps from Paper Xtra and was trying them out when I remembered that I had some SU stamps called Oh, So Lovely which were also long stemmed buds and flowers. I had not used these for a few months, so decided to play with both.  I was using my Copics to colour the flowers and so used them on these as well.  I had stamped the images onto SU Confetti White, which is absorbent, but they worked OK.  The SU stamp set has a background stamp as well, so used this with the last of my Wild Wasabi ink, and stamped two images.  I then used Memento Black to overstamp the flower stems and coloured them in. I sponged the edges with SU Elegant Eggplant ink.  I mounted one image onto Lilac, dark Purple and then a piece of Old Olive card that had gone through the crimper. I used a Martha Stewart punch called Doily for the edges on the purple card under the ribbon, and a piece of the Confetti White stamped with writing using Elegant Eggplant. I then added some ribbon. It was all placed on a piece of SU Lovely Lilac and put onto a white textured commercial blank card. 

Inside I stamped this Verve stamp with the Elegant Eggplant and added the second stamped and coloured image.

This was the image from the Paper Xtra stamp set, where I stamped with Memento Black ink and used Wild Wasabi for the grasses.  Sponged with both green ande purple around the edges, coloured the plants (over the black) with Copic pens and mounted on purple card. The sentiment is another Verve stamp and the background paper is a scrap from DCWV Pocket Full of Posies. A bit of ric-rac to complete the card. It is all on a commercial card blank.