A Rose is a rose is a rose...

Jean at Just Scraps has a challenge #20 running called 'Round and Red'. Creative Card Crew have a Challenge called "Bloomin' Marvellous".I have a set of stamps from WMS called Roses in Bloom which I loved but had not got to ink up yet.

Serendipitous, I thought! Roses are red, and are flowers, and I have those new Copic pens in red as well.........here 'tis!:

The sentiment is from Florishes - Kids at Play stamp set. I used some SU card that had been through a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and a doily. I also added some gold Smooch to the centre of the roses.  I also layered up the main rose, and masked to include some leaves and another smaller rose and a bud.  So, Jean - they are round (sort of) and red (definitely) and I enjoyed the experiment! I then fussy cut one side of the leaves/flower.  The image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Ex-Press card.

Kitchen update for family followers and others!

No card at the moment.  I have some pictures of the kitchen reno's to date as I am getting inquiries from family and friends for photos's!(notice that alliteration!).  Firstly, the kitchen reno has taken over the whole house, as you can see. Ceiling has been painted and the walls will be done today (hopefully) - all the furniture has been pushed into the middle - yesterday it was all draped with clear plastic drops - looked spooky! Everything is dirty and dusty.

 This is what the splashback looks like - still not sealed.

The nook has also been tiled and the fridge is in situ but not plumbed in yet or turned on. The microwave and oven work though - when I was cleaning the stainless on Sunday I accidently turned the stove on and then couldn't get it off -panic, followed by reading the instructions before I could get it off!

View down the kitcheninto dining area (minus table) - the window sills are meant to be done, but after the westerlies and the rain earlier this week, they leaked! So, now we are waiting for the glazier to come and frix so that the painter can finish.

The hallway (with the sun just shining as I took the photo) - notice the new wall panels and how well they match? You can see where the old door was.  The painter is at present painting the hall panels and the door frame before he begins on the walls and gets rid of the pink!

He is a bit messy, this painter but is the grandson of our butcher, we discovered this morning! A nice lad.

Yes, that is snow folks, on the mountain! And it's bloody cold as well! Yes, it is Springtime. Somewhere. 

Even down to Collins Cap - about 200 metres they said on the radio this morning. Roads closed everwhere, as you can imagine, in the highlands and on the westcoast.

Cheer Up, this is my 101 blogging.....

Painter's here today again.  The tiler has gone and he has left behind a wonderful job.  So pleased with his work. Meanwhile, it is cold again (snow at low lying areas today and tonight) and we are restricted to the craft room and the workshop - so sad (not!).

This is for a challenge with Auld Sentiments  - Challenge #11 "Cheer Up" and for Digital Delights "Make it Sparkle" (there are three pearls shining away there!).

I used a digital image from Digital Delight's (Lenny the Lion), and coloured it with Copics before I used a Cuttlebug and Nestabilities Labels 4.  The sentiment is from WMS ( Sayings) and the card used is from SU (Melon Mambo and Chocolate Chip).  There are also some Kaiser pearls. The base card is a piece of shiny Bazzil in an off white colour.

Sue (Tillymint) at A Consuming Passion issued a bit of a challenge the other day - using 3D decoupage from and gave this link here to find the images.  This is what  I created. The image is by Beci Brindley 2009. Again I used an embossing folder in the Cuttlebug, some bling and some scrap ribbon but the flower is printed on shiny white card and then fussy cut and layered up.  The whole is layered onto some SU Pacific Blue card and put onto a commercial blank. I loved Sue's card - hope this one is OK, Sue?

Very bright colour combo!

Ed:  Can you believe it - it's a DRAW!!!  Back next week!!!!!

I am listening to the AFL Grand Final on the radio, and currently the Saints are WINNING!!! YEAH......but for how long?

Anyway, to keep the excitement level down I have been card making as well. I decided to use the weekly colour challenge at Colour Throwdown, which looked quite pretty on line, but when I got the colours together (or similar in the case of River Rock) boy, are they bright!  Anyway, having chosen my colours, I then looked at the Annabelle Stamps Bling Sketch ABSCO#30 and used that to create a card.  Here it is:

I don't have a Bigshot or die to cut out a scalloped circle, so used my SU Medallion Stamp, and trimmed a sort-of scalloped circle from that; my Cuttlebug was used for the smaller circle, and the image comes from SU Touch of Nature set, as does the sentiment.  My Martha Stewart edge punch was used for the top, and the bling is really pale blue but looks slightly green in the light. Melon Mambo, Pacific Blue and some Co' ordination card that that is nearly the same as River Rock. Below is inside the card, using the rest of the sentiment.

This card is a straight case from Bleu Bella  - it looked so nice I had a go: my white embossed pattern is from WMS - Victorian Fripperie, and the flowers in the circle are from SU Simple Somethings (my very first SU stamp set). The sentiment is from SU Warm Words.

Yesterday, the tiler was here doing the floor for the new kitchen. So, I was confined to the craft room again. In the Australian Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft magazine for this month, devoted to Christmas cards, there was one article showing the use of embossed metal shim. I have the dove embossing folder, and recognised it being used in the article, so cased the ideas and created three cards for Christmas!

Come on the Saints.......we cannot stand a year with Collingwood as winners!!!!

More blog candy

Just found out that I have won some blog candy from Lyn's Designer Creations. Wasn't that a blast. She has some more candy for this week (see my sidebar) so just click on either her name or the sidebar image and go and have a look.  If I can win something, so can you!

Well, I am back, but not with a card...

Still getting a kitchen - as I am keying this the tiler is upstairs laying the floor tiles.  I find it hard to stay away! I have also found it difficult to craft, so have been tidying up and such, and went to a class for a Christmas card with a pop-up insert, to take my mind off the kitchen. It worked for a while.  I am getting over picnicking in the laundry and lounge room and cannot wait until the painters get here on Monday!

I did encourage my hubby to assist in the storage department and look what he made me: one for my copics and one for my inks!

I saw them both in other people's blogs and showed him, so he designed them and built them for me.  I painted the one for copic's in white as well as papering the top and sides (and strips down the front), but the ink storage is just as it was on the front, although I did paper the top and sides. It will take 48 Stampin'Up inks, so I had better get to ordering to fill it up! I am a a very lucky crafter!

Joy is in us!

I found this challenge through another blog and thought I would test myself - You are supposed to use an image three times and add a sentiment.  I used one stamp with three images (of trees) so I hope it will pass the criteria of the challenge.

It is for Simplicity: One Layer Wednesday (OLW#20) - Three and One

It is a stamp from Crafty Individuals (197), stamped with Memento Close to Cocoa ink on white Bazzil card.  The sentiment is from SU's stamp set Summer by the Sea. The bird charm I purchased from a craft stall at Agfest this year. I rounded the front corners and that's it. It is a single fold card.

Back to School for some

Here in Tasmania, students (and teachers) are currently in the second week of a two week break before the run up to Christmas, end of the school year, exams and final reports. The idea of "Back to School" is greeting with groans from all!   However, in the northern hemisphere, where the seasons are round-about and winter is summer, School does not run on a February  to December timetable, but on a September to July one.  So "Back to School" is the theme for Jean at Just Scraps this month.

Here is my entry into her Challenge #19!

Happy 'return to school' to all those who are doing so - may your year be full of excellence and fun!

As I had no suitable stamps, these images are digital one's from Colouring Page Tuesdays (very cute they are too!) and I printed them out and coloured them in using my Copic pens. I then fussy cut them and popped them up on the background papers.  This is from a freebie that was given with a Australian Scrapbooking magazine several years ago, but I thought the message was excellent! I used my Martha Stewart edge punch for the stars and some white scrap which had been through the Polka Dot embossing folder in the Cuttlebug. As someone called Claire says "Hope it tickles"!

The kitchen is progressing even as I speak - there are carpenters and plasterers working quietly there upstairs as I craft away in my little space and my husband is working in his workshop (making me a container for my SU ink pads, bless his cotton socks!).

More kitchen and a card with a twist...

Firstly, the card.  Saw this fold on a blog (someone's) when blog hopping yesterday, and so made it today using some die cuts I had from a Disney Cuttlebug die and embossing folder when practising using both (again yesterday - you can tell I am a bit distracted?) Put it together using some SU DP and a rub-on for the sentiment.
EDIT: the blog belongs to Jo Davies at Digital Delights

Then took three photo's of it before the rain poured down outside, and somehow 'lost' two of them off my camera! It's been that sort of a day.

However, there are two die cuts of crackers snapping - one each side, two candles and one cake. It was quite easy to make and put together - I have the dimensions if you want them.

Today has been like Spencer Street Station here - and it is cold and rainy most of the time.  With the front door open nearly all day, it had been a bit strange. We had two workmen show up to fit in the stove, microwave and range hood - problem number one was that the rangehood didn't fit and the trim for the microwave was missing.  Several phone call's later hubby and I raced off to the city to organise the necessary exchanges  - all finally sorted by this pm, but no glass under the hood for me! Boo Hoo....they didn't fit. Only have two months to sort this out but it was missed by us and the builder - anyway, sorted. Next the stone men arrived to fit the benches, and in the middle the foreman for the sewer repair team for the area arrived to tell us about the work that will be happening down on the waterfront this evening. Then granddaughter Number 2 turned up to visit.  As I said, busy!

 Here are the pictures of the kitchen to date.

The bench tops are brown stone (bitter chocolate, actually)

                                        

Stove and microwave almost in, and benchtops for the electrical equipment cupboard and the telephone nook. 

                                                      

Now all I need to do is learn to cook!

                                                      

Can you see my induction hot plates?  Just under the (smaller) rangehood! Very nifty.

The fridge and dishwasher still to be plumbed in, and nothing is yet wired in. Tiler comes late next week, plasterer tomorrow and the guys to fix the floor ready for tiling tomorrow as well. Painters the week after next at this stage!

A mouse in the house......

Mmmm.....it looks better in real life.....has a lot more sparkle.  It is to be entered into Delightful Sketches - Ribbon Recipe; Lord Have Mercy Tuesday Sketch Challenge #90; and Creative Cottage Challenge #22 - Celebration. 

                                     

Penny Black Marching Mouse stamp; Memento Tuxedo Black ink and Copic pens to colour it, plus white gel pen. Three pieces of ribbon - red, green and yellow (gold). SU card and a sentiment stamp embossed in gold and stamped over Memento black ink to 'ghost' the letters. Hand stitched in red embroidery thread. The circles were cut out/embossed using a Nestability circle in the Cuttlebug, and the inner circle was then smudged with gold ink, and some gold tinsel added.  Bling added to the circle and to the centre of the flower. I stressed the edges of the background card and attached it to a white commercial blank.

Butterflies and Flowers

There are many challenges in life: I have decided to enter a card in several -

Colour Throwdown #109
Verve Stamps Something Old/Something New
Annabelle Stamps "Say it with ....Sprinkles"

In the midst of the kitchen I have "tidied" up the desk and done my tax, and cleaned up the craft spaces a bit and realized that I had a sheet of acetate stamped five times with a flower stamp from Innovative Stamp Creations (free stamp on Craft Stamper magazine), using white SU Craft ink - and despite the fact this had happened at least five weeks ago, they were still quite wet. I had at one stage tried to use the heat gun to dry them off and that meant the sheet was buckled but the flowers were still wet and easily smeared.  So, I had a brain wave and got my collection of tinsel out, and sprinkled the images with tinsel, and brushed off the excess.  They seemed to be OK so I decided to use them straight away before I forgot about them again, and made this card! So, even thought I know I am not using the sprinkles that Annabelle Stamps sells, I am using sprinkles of tinsel - lots of it - so am entering it in this Challenge!

However, it wasn't until I went to photograph it, I realised that the WMS frame stamp from Vintage Labels 4 I used is upside down! The sentiment is from Verve stamps using Memento Black ink, and the frame is stamped in SU Pink Passion ink, and then is cut out with Nestabilities, using the Cuttlebug. The background is SU Cream embossed with Floral Fantasy.   The frame and the card are outlined with a hot pink card from the stash.  Various brads were used for the flower centres and the ribbon is Celebrate sheer pink. The whole is on a pale lilac Bazzil card.

The second card is being entered into both the Colour Throwdown #109, and Verve Stamps Something Old/Something New challenges.

                                           

The colours are all there for the Throwdown challenge and I have used two different sets of Verve stamps for the Verve challenge - my newest one is the frame from Framed Wishes, stamped in SU Tempting Turquoise and clear embossed, with the sentiment also done this way but coming from the Beautiful Kindness set, as do the butterflies.  They are coloured with Copic pens and then with Dimensional Magic. The textured background is my first attempt at the crimping background described in  SplitCoastStampers newsletter this week. My crimper is old and not very good, so I had to distress the result to improve the image! The SU Melon Mambo background is then attached to a cream blank card, and the Pear Pizzazz (or similar) is a scrap piece, while the Daffodil Delight (or similar) yellow is the crimped card - from the stash! I added a bit of ribbon as well - the butterflies do sit up off the face of the card, adhered with DM.

It's starting to look like a kitchen!

Next update - cupboards in!

So, this is looking back into the kitchen are from the dining room -entry back right, and pantry cupboard at back.

This is the side that will have the sink and the dishwasher, and the cook top and range hood. 

This side has the fridge in the hole in the middle, and the little alcove is for the phone etc. The alcove on the left is for the stove and microwave.

This is outside the kitchen in the hall, looking at where there used to be a doorway. 

As well as getting in a new kitchen yesterday, the water and sewerage board arrived on shore below us with a BARGE and an excavator and began to work on the sewerage system. Excitement! The excavator was working in the salt water digging up the old pipes and replacing them. The tide was really high and they were paddling around down there again today (no ship or machines) and the water was right up to the bank edge. So much to look at, no time to create!

Empty nest.....

Second posting for a day - more of the kitchen!

Does he look happy?  Note the fridge and freezer in the hall and the lovely green carpet - that belongs to a friend and was last used as the floor of his market stall!

All empty now.

This is where you will now enter the kitchen from the hall.

This is the view from the doorway down the kitchen into the dining room and outside. 

Going Once, going twice........

Kitchen photo's!

This is the old kitchen

The Pantry!

Going Once.....

Going twice - John is watching carefully!

Going three time.....only the pantry and wall next!

Happy Father's Day

To all the Dads out there.  Hope it's a good one - although if you live in Australia today, the chances are it will be a wet one! Poor Christchurch: no rain yet but an earthquake - such a pretty city to have such a horrible thing happen and so lucky that no-one was killed. My good wishes go out to anyone who comes from New Zealand and particularly to those from Christchurch.

Well, I have completed another card in between moving out of the kitchen and setting up a camp kitchen in the back bedroom. I am going to enter it in the Aud Sentiment Challenge #10 - to use the words 'Best Wishes' as a sentiment.  I saw this unusual fold card on someone's blog (cannot remember who) and decided to use it and to ink up some Waltzing Mouse Stamps for this.  I have been seeing people use WMS stamps to create background papers, so decided to do this using some scrap yellow spotty paper and the Picnic stamp set.

I chose the colours grey and yellow because Annabelle Stamps  has them as a "Say it in..." Challenge colour combo, so will enter this. My centrepiece uses another WMS  stamp from a set called Victorian Fripperie.  I highlighted the sections with some gold Smooch (lovely stuff) and sponged SU Apricot Appeal ink around the edges and in the middle, after I cut it out with a Nestability circle using the Cuttlebug. The background ink was SU Basic Grey and the circle was Memento London Fog. The card is Bazzil Grey.  The front edge was another scrap of yellow paper stamped with a  WMS Picnic stamp and I added three apricot stickles from Annabelle Stamps. Then some bright yellow ribbon, and a piece of stamped paper inside to complete the card.

This is the card on it's side so you can see the folds better. . 

Aud Sentiments Blog Candy

Aud Sentiments is also running a new monthly blog candy competition for September. Here are the deets:

For the month of September we are lucky enough to have Really Reasonable Ribbonas our sponsor. They are giving the winner a $15 Gift Certificate.

Here is a little bit about their company...

"Really Reasonable Ribbon has been meeting the ribbon needs of crafters, wedding planners, rubberstampers, scrapbookers and the artistic community for over 10 years. We offer great wholesale pricing on full spools of many of our styles, and really reasonable discount retail pricing on ribbon by the yard. Stop by our blog at reasonableribbon@blogspot.com for great ribbon crafting ideas and inspiration. We host challenges on the 1st and 15th of each month."

They also have a blog. Check it out! Here is the link

Tillymint is giving away some extraordinary blog candy!

 Tillymint from A Consuming Passion blog has decided to give away some amazing bog candy - see below!

                                

Now I also know that lots of you are much more talented than me and very capable of your own blog designs.  So what about this 9.5" x 7.5" Calico gift bag that I have full of stamps, embellishments and all sorts of goodies.

Go to her web site to see what this is all about by clinking on her link above - Tillymint! It's easy! 

Kitchen Reno's

Well, we are knee deep in kitchen renovations - the starting point is packing up what we have! WOW - don't we have a lot of junk! And glasses - where do they all come from? Anyway, now just waiting for the workmen to arrive on Monday to pull it all apart.  I will take some pikki's as we go along so you can see what is happening!

Challenges:  Just Scraps:  Fussy Cutting!
Birthday's still happen so birthday cards still have to be made for granddaughter's who turn seven - but very quickly! Here it is:

There are no stamps used - some stickers, some flowers from Petaloo (Celebrations), and one rub-on.  Some blue lace and a sheer ribbon bow, a pearl swirl, and lots of fussy cut faeries from the papers Alison Ellis's Flights of Fancy series. Then it was just all put together as you can see - very quickly! The photo's were taken at night so it was hard to get them in the right light and you cannot see the shine on the faeries or see them standing off the page, using dimentionals.