Mouse Update

Nope, no deaths yet - escapologists did it again last night, after eating the peanut butter in the trap!

Meanwhile, I have little time to complete the summer hop for Crop Stop, and will have to get a wriggle on: this is number five - for Gloria - to use the colours of summer, namely orange/yellow; blue/green/; tan/brown and white only.

Found me a lot of scrap bits from the stash from a set of papers called Hooty from Sassafras.  Combined them with some brown card folded ianto a square, from SU, and mounted them on some metalic Bronze card (SU), added a Prima flower, some ribbon, a punched out square stamped with part of a stamp from SU set called Happy Heart, with brown ink. It's bright!

I used the sketch from Mojo Monday #197 this week to follow for design. It's very bright!

We've got clever mices!

Several weeks ago we started to discover small insignificant things that annoyed us around the house - a little puddle here, a bit of a mess there.  Nothing smelly or nasty but enough to convince us that we were sharing our space with SOMETHING! As I am arachnophobic, I only hoped with wasn't a beastie with lots of scuttling legs. Then I found a small wee one in HUB's workshop downstairs and cleverly (I thought) captured it by the simple expedient of putting a block of wood over its escape hatch (the top of the garbage bin it was in). HUB came home and I pointed it out to him and he  looked at the offender ( a field mouse) and then went and let it out in the garden because he has a soft heart and could not kill it either!  Lately it has become obvious (small black droppings) that there is most probably a field or house mouse or several mice living upstairs in the kitchen with us. Soooo, sent HUB out for a mouse trap - being a traditionalist, he came home with two traditional mouse traps and set them with a piece of cheese.  Next morning, nothing. I then set them the following night with bread and honey! Nothing. Two nights ago I upped the anti, and set them with bread, honey and peanut butter!!!! Yesterday, the bread was gone, but the traps were STILL SET.  Clever mice.

I went and purchased more expensive traps - the kind that the mouse goes inside and the door shuts and they are trapped there. This morning, the doors were closed - AHAA, we thought; but, no mice inside (or bait). Very smart mice and starting to be well fed mice.

Today I was too busy, but I think I will have to get poison bait. Then we shall see if the mice are as smart as they seem!!!!!!  I will try again tonight but I have a feeling they will just be dancing all over the kitchen floor and laughing with glee when they see those traps again - foolish humans, feeding us!

Here is a card I made for a swap at I Brake for Stamps Club.  The theme was Wings, and I made this and sent it to the USA to Winsrella, who tells me she now has it.  So, here it is, made with an IBFS rubber stamp.

Shimmery Tin

The next item for the Crop Stop Challenge is for Heidi, who wants things to shimmer and shine. I have a collection of tines and boxes growing under my desk "this will be useful one day" so I thought I should start to make something from the stack just to prove to HUB that they are NOT RUBBISH.

This was a small tin of breath mints. The stamp is an AnnaBelle stamp Lil Bee's Big Flowers,coloured with Copics and fussy cut. The heart is from the stash, as is the white and gold ribbon. The pink shimmery card is scrap. The side card is a strip from some Best Creations sparkly card. The whole image has been worked with Spica pens and then sprayed with Mica gold powder in water. It has a subtle shimmer that does not show up easily, hence the four photos! I though I could either put sweets in the tin and give as a gift, or some small items or goodies for craft and give as a gift! Is it shimmery enough Heidi?

Rosemary's Challenge

I also had a go at Rosemary's 3D Under the Sea one......boy, was that a challenge, lifting me right out of my comfort zone!  I had to use digi's and I chose to colour in Copics, and my printer ink is not as fast as it should be......anyway, I did it!

Rosemary's 3D challenge is here:

As I said, I used digi's - the mermaid is from "Creative Mind of Sylvie" and the school of fishes is from I Brake for Stamps.  The oceam is cut from SU Glossy White, with alcohol inks from Time Holtz on it and stamped over with a JudiKins stamp from a cube set with StaysOn blue ink.  The sentiment is from a There She Goes set called By the Sea and is stamped with Momento Paris Dusk. I have layered up the 'waves' and put the mermaid in the middle layer - you can sort of see below. I coloured with Copics and used Spica pens and Smooch to put some shine on it. The background card is SU Daffodil Delight and it is all on a commercial blank (blue). The fishes also have a blue chalked background. 

I have been doing things!

Unfortunately, not as many as I would have liked, but I started painting again, and the government is currently paying me to do some work so I have to do something sometime, right?  As well, I made a card for our son's birthday on Monday, and I couldn't put that up until he had nearly got it in case he did look at the blog (unlikely).

So, what have I done?  I have done two more challenges for Crop Stop's hop.  I have completed Kaori's song challenge (my summertime song is just that "Summertime.... and the living is easy, fish are biting........etc")

Here it is:

I will enter it into The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #113 as well.The stamp set is a Flourish set Kids at Play.  The background papers are a mixture of Echo Park dots and Prima Annalee collection. The image is cut out with Nestabilities and the backing is from SU Bronze Metallic card. The trim is some lace from Webster's Pages.  The sentiment is from the stamp set and is stamped in SU Close to Cocoa. The scallops are from a die and there is some bling and edges swiped with ink. The main image is coloured with Copics. The card is made using the SU Circle Scissors and SU Daffodil Delight card.  

As I said, I have also made a birthday card for the son, and a card for a SU 'make and take' workshop I am taking tomorrow - this is CASED from a recent magazine.  Here they are:  

Matt enjoys cooking and is over 40!

I've fixed the too heavy button in this shot! Looks better now. 

Monday..itus

It's very windy, and that always used to make the kids go silly so guess that's why I have gone a little silly myself and decorated up a gift bag. Why?  Crop Stop are having a summer blog hop and there is a challenge to complete 10 challenges before June 30th! Vicki told us to 'Think Pink' and create a project and that did it! It's all her fault!

(HUB just dropped a FULL bottle of white wine and broke it on the tiles in the downstairs bathroom (wine is being stored in the shower there - don't ask) and wine has gone everywhere.  The smell is delicious but three towels later he is mopping the floor with hot water to get the sticky residue off - what a waste of lovely wine)

Anyway, back to why it is Vicki's fault   the challenge at Vicki's blog: here is what I made up in PINK!

The front - it is a commercial small white bag, covered with some daisyanddandilion paper (freebie in a craft magazine) on both sides of the bag.  Then I added a pink doily cut from my Cherry Lyn Doily Die from some scrap SU Pink Passion card to each side. On top of this I put a pink die cut from a Dielicious die - Lace Dies cut from some pink pearlised card scrap.  A big sparkly pink brad attached these two items to the DP.  I stamped the WMS banner from Bitty Banners (in PP ink) onto SU Whisper White scrap and got two sentiments from WMS sets - one from Asian Gardens and one from Sweethearts and stamped them onto the banners, cut them out and attached one each side as well. In order to close the top I tied some pink ribbon which says "Happy Birthday" on it, on the handle but the top still gaped so I fashioned a tag from a scrap piece of PP and stuck it to the back, and attached a fuzzy opener thingy underneath the front, with a pink button from the stash on top.  You just pull it up and it opens the bag.

Side view

Back view

Sorry about the photography but it is blowing a gale outside and I had difficulty getting the bag to stand up and be counted. 

Just Chillin'.....

I had coloured this image under terrible lighting watching TV last week, and decided it looked a bit bright,but then AnnaBelle Stamps had a colour challenge to use Orange, Yellow and Turquoise.......well, it fitted right in!

The Sparkle Creation  - Swimming Lucy - stamp colours up well with Copics, and I not-so-fussy cut her out and the layered her up onto the piece of SU DP cut with a Cheery Lynn Doily Die cut (DL104) layered onto a circle cut with my SU circle cutter. The flower is a white Prima, coloured with Copics and then sprayed with gold mica to make it shine. The label is a Spellbinders Just Right custom die, and the sentiment comes from a S2G's set. the tyre is actually orange IRL, but the evening light outside turned it darker. I have smooched around the edges of things with SU Turquoise ink, and I used that for the sentiment too.  The blank folded card is SU Turquoise, and the other card is Pumkin Pie for the circle and Summer Sun (discon) for the label. I also used Spica pen on the girl to make her sparkle as well. 

Close up of the sparkle!

I am also entering this in:

Challenge Up Your Life - Circles, because there are a few here!

Creations by GillM - circles sketch and a flower

Delightful Challenges - Anything Goes

Aud Sentiments - Summertime

Pink and Green

A challenge - from CR84FN - to use pale pink, mid green and a neutral. Unfortunately I have missed the deadline - knew it was close but the card is made and this is it below.

ED:  Thanks to Jenny, I am now entering this in Southern Girls - Anything Goes challenge - didn't know about them before!!!  Do now - look out!

Took me too long to put all the bits together.   I coloured the Sparkle girl image with Copics, and highlighted her with my Spica pens.  The green frame is too big - there is too much of a gap between the sizes - I should have trimmed it. The DP in the background comes from a Basic Grey Hello Lucious pad, and an Echo Park - Dots and Stripes pad.  The flower is a white Prima, sprayed with some Glimmer mist to turn it pale pink. The tag is cut from the Pink Pirouette (SU) that is also used as the base card.  Some Melon Mambo (SU) is also used to mount the DP. Everything is swiped with Antique Linen ink. 

Also entered in:

Colour Me Creative Classroom: Colouring up Brunettes - must use Copics

Make it Colourful - light reflection challenge

Winged things

I entered a swap with the people at the forum for I Brake for Stamps Brakefast Club.  

I posted off my card yesterday to USA, and in a strange turn of events received mine from USA as well yesterday! Mary (aka Loosy) made mine and here is a photo of it:

The first image is scanned and shows the colours nicely but the second one is a photo taken outside today, and it shows the detail and the sparkle!  I LOVE the clouds - its a stamp apparently, and I really love the story it is telling - isn't that bear one lucky teddy to get all that fairy dust sprinkled over him!  Bet he's tickled pink! The ear is mounted up on dimentional tape and is a IBFS stamp.  I love the colouring of the wings as well. Thank you Mary! 

Candle Love

Do you think anyone would like to receive these (or at least one of them) as part of a nursery package for a newborn?  I thought they were sweet, but am not sure if they would be received well or sell - any comments?

They are made with $3.00 Kaiser stamps and some baby ribbon, coloured in with copics. I think the candles should have been fatter to show off more of the elephant shape and make it easier to add the sentiment - it tore on the boy's one so I had to remove it.  Sentiment or no sentiment?  Colours too strong? Any comments?

Been Travelling.....

...over the river to Bruny Island.  The people who live there call us mainlanders, we call people who live on the big island north (Australia) mainlanders.....so it goes. However, we caught the ferry across on Tuesday and spent a lovely evening with friends in their newly renovated little 'shack' - very warm and comfortable. The weather however while fine was COLD! There was a frost the next morning and I assure you I didn't put my toes out of bed before 8.00, so these photos were taken around 9.30 am and the frost was still there!

This is from the front balcony - can you see the reflection on the other side of the bay? Beautiful!

Looking up the bay - frost a water level and so still.

Later that day, entering Kettering (Tassie side) on the car ferry.

Looking north towards Hobart, about halfway across the channel between Bruny Island and Tassie  - can you see that cloud laying in the horizon? Volcanic dust! I have been crafting yesterday but it is for a swap with I Break For Stamps, so will post off today to USA and not post until it is received over there. Click on the photos for a bigger view! 

Volcanic sunset

There is a volcano erupting somewhere in Chile, and it is sending plumes of dust into the stratsophere, which has drifted many thousands of kilometres across the bottom of the world towards us, and is now stopping our planes from flying in southern Australia. Out island of Tasmania has become isolated somewhat for a period as people try to get in and out without flying! The upside of all this is beautiful sunsets and sunrises!  This was last night!

Mojo Monday

OK, I may be late with this for Mojo but not for AB Stamps - it was following the design for Mojo Monday #194 and the challenge for AnnaBelle Stamps - say it in sponging and masking.

It's a Magnolia of course - Tilda with Ponytail, and she is sitting on a Magnolia armchair - that's my masking job!  The sponging is pink ink around my mount and sentiment. The papers come from Cosmo Cricket's De Lovely set and the ribbon is from the stash but I think it is seam tape. White bazzill was folded for the card base and there are various dies - Cheery Lyn's doily die - Canadian; a JustRite label die and Nestabilities Scalloped Circles. I used a MS edge punch for the bottom of the paper strips.  Everything is layered up!

 There is a bit of Spica pen glitter on Tilda - you can see it better below! It looks like white dots.

Dancing Rodents

I am going to enter the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge #51 with this card:

I am also going to enter it into the Colour Throwdown Challenge - baja breeze, so saffron and pear pizzazz.

My handmade flowers are cut from a pack of give away papers from My Minds Eye called Summer Papers using a MFT die - Daisy Spiral. My background DP is from the same pack of paper.  The leaves are from a die by Sissix.  The pink flower is by Prima, and my daisy's have a pearl centre courtesy of Kaiser (I think). The ribbon is SU So Saffron.  Three pink bits of bling were added to the ribbon.  The sentiment is stamped in Pear Pizzazz ink (SU) onto So Saffron,  using a stamp from WMS - Asian Gardens. The DP is mounted onto a piece of Pear Pizzazz and the card base is Baja Breeze (SU) as is the small medallion one of the flowers is mounted on.  

No challenges

I have made several cards, one for an 80th birthday and one using some new SU materials - and I have a photo of several visitors to our winter garden.  They were happily making a big mess! They pick off a bunch of berries from the Cottoneasta, and then nibble out the seed inside, and spit the pith all over the steps! So very refined - not! This is taken through a window, as they tend to fly away when I go outside - this is just two of the half dozen parrots working away.

ED: I have discovered these are Eastern Blue Cheeked Parrots, found in the Murrimbidge/Darling River area - a long, long way away from here! Interesting. 

The first card is for the mother of my SIL, who turned 80 yesterday. She has a good sense of humour, so I thought she wouldn't mind this - also she is not a flowery person.

The image and sentiments are from a "My Favourite Things" set called My Type, which comes with a Die-namics die , allowing me to cut out the typewriter and the paper. The background paper is from a Daisy and Dandelion pack mounted on SU Regal Rose, the ink used is Momento Potter's Clay, and the doily, papers and cards have all been swiped with Antique Linen ink.  The ribbon trim is from Webster's Pages. The card is a commercial blank.  I distressed the papers also. Inside looked like this:

The numbers are from a K&C Co. set.  The second card (using all SU products unless indicated) used some embossed Whisper White (Swirls) and some Daffodil Delight embossed with the Happy Birthday folder. The card blank is a commercial one and the white background is swiped with Pacific Point ink.  I then cut out two frames, one in WW and one is Melon Mambo, and stamped the white one with Hello Blossoms - I inked the stamp with the Markers first, and then stuck on the Ice Cream Parlour buttons.  I finish off with the Ice Cream Parlour ribbon strip.  These last two items are a freebie from SU at the moment, 

From 1-31 July, you and your customers can get an exclusive bundle of adorable ribbon and buttons for FREE when you spend $100 on Stampin' Up! products!

So if you like them and have an order, just contact me!

Magical Birthday

My Lili of the Valley sentiment circle stamp set has lots of sentiments like this - so pretty. I cut it out with a Nestability circle die.

Today I am sharing a card made with a Sparkle stamp image, coloured with Copics and following a sketch challenge by Crop Stop.  This also has an extra challenge of embossing, and the frame is embossed.

The frame is die cut from metal (from Ten seconds Studio), using a Spellbinders Frameability.The ribbon is silk and the pearls are from Kaiser.  The ink was Memento Black. The background papers are from Echo Park - Dots and Stripes. I used a bit of Spica pen on the image as well to get a bit of sparkle on things. I fussy cut the image and layered up, using dimentionals. The base card is a piece of blue bazzil from the stash.

I spent the weekend in Melbourne at a Copic Project class and the Copic Intermediate Designer Training course, and have my certificate.  If you want me to take a class just get back to me asap!  Now I have to practice lots - what a shame! The weather is really cold, blustery and wet, so I am forced to stay inside. I am tucked up in the craft room with a heater and a never ending cup of coffee! Poor me.....

Two hours later.....
I then made another card with the same image (I coloured two at a time).  Here it is -

Can you see the sparkle?

Birthday Hugs

...to all those whose birthday falls into this weeks perimeter! I have completed a card for the Waltzing Mouse sketch challenge, and will make it by the skin of my teeth! The background was stamped with Tsukineko Splendour ink and let dry overnight. I used a stamp from the Victorian Fripperie set for this.  I stamped a label from Vintage Label 4, and embossed it with clear EP.  I die cut it with a Spellbinders Label 4, and inked the edges with SU Blushing Bride ink.  I also inked the edges of the background paper.  I used a piece of Gemstones Cardstock to back this and a Martha Stewart edge punch to decorate it.  The lot is layered onto a piece of folded SU Bashful Blue card. My sentiment comes from WM Sweethearts  and Half Pint Hero.  The ink used for this is Momento Paris Dusk. The white twine is from AnnaBelle's Stamps. Kaiser supplied the bling.

For a few weeks I have been going to a painting class - mixed media and watercolour - with Terry Gough, and although it does not look like it I have learned a great deal from him.  The following three images are class exercises.  I go back in several weeks for term 2!

Autumn leaves - imprinting and masking

Winter colours and mist/rain

Autumn colours - other than flora

Crafting for Fun

Or CR84FN #30 is issuing a challenge to use light blue, light yellow and kraft and create!  So, I used this colour scheme and the CPS Challenge #220 sketch to create my next offering.

The card is made using mostly Stampin' Up's stuff, but the ink is Momento Paris Dusk, and the ribbon and buttons are from the stash. The bling is Kaiser. The image is SU's Sailing, and the sentiment is from Annabelle Stamps Treemendous set. It is just all layered together.  The card is Bashful Blue and Barely Banana, with a bit of Brilliant Blue scrap to mount the image. 

Tuesday Throwdown #57 wanted us to make our own embellishment, and I thought my two stacked buttons tied with string did that, so I will enter it into that as well. I found these two new sights as well, so will enter them as well.

Two Sisters Challenge is  - Anything Goes
Dream Valley is - Stamp Something