Whine or Wine?

There are so many lovely labels on wine bottles, and I have made use of many of these in my day - both the contents of the bottles and the labels!

However, I find it hard to remove some of the labels for my artwork - that's my whine! My hubby is a bit of an expert now, including filling the bottle with hot water and waiting, to applying (carefully) the heat from a hair dryer, to simply soaking in a sink of hot water.  Some lift off OK and some don't. Oh well, youse takes your chances, eh!

This card uses an image from a wine bottle that obviously came off but had to be trimmed a bit, so I put the image inside a frame and you cannot tell it is a little worse for wear! Can you?

This is an outside shot

This is an inside one

These are the products used to make it - the backing paper is from Out of Print, the top DPs are from Jenny  B's Studio, the frame is from Merci, the rub-on is a Kelly Panacci (Sandy Lion) which was worse for wear and had to be resurrected with black pen. The black ribbon (wide) is off a chocolate box, and the thin one is from clothing. The beads I made. The black and gold ribbon tape is from 7 Gypsies. You can just see another wine label (Annie's Lane) under the small papers pack, and I was contemplating using that instead of the one I did, as this card was made for my friend Annie's birthday! The black card base is a commercial blank. 

Beautiful Day

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary but I was teaching a Copic class in the afternoon so today my lovely husband took me to lunch at the beautiful winery Meadowbank, near Richmond today instead to celebrate. 

Here is a photo (taken from the web) of the winery and the view - its greener today than this photo indicates.

The sky was a clear brilliant blue today as well!

We had a fabulous meal and shared a beautiful bottle of Chardonnay.  The service was superb. Now, my hubby is sound asleep snoring on the couch upstairs with the TV on - it is 35 degrees outside,and although there is a sea breeze, we are tucked around the corner at our house and don't get it.  The sky is still a clear beautiful blue and I have been able to go to the workroom and make a lovely card! What more could you want!

Here is my card:

The card used is SU Whisper White, Lucky Limeaid and Cherry Cobbler.  The base card is Kraft from Papermania.  The ribbon is a rich burgundy from my stash, stamped with SU Kraft white ink - using a sentiment from WMS - Little Trees. The centre sentiment stamp is a freebie from Craft Stamper magazine, by Banana Frog stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I coloured the centre of the circle with a Copic pen. The leaves are die cut using Sizzix Little Leaves from SU. I cut a circle using two Nestabilities (one inside the other) from the green card and then attached the leaves to it using glue to create the wreath.  I took some flowers from I Brake for Stamps (red ones on wire and wound them around the card) and Peterloo (white ones glued on). I have tied a bit of seam binding ribbon on the side.  I thought it looked quite pretty!

I had one leave set left over so added it to the inside of the card, which is layered in the red and then white card and stamped with a suitable sentiment from Stamp It.

Modem woes!

My modem died on Tuesday morning at 10.20 am. Vale, modem - you have been a good friend for many a year.  The Telstra technician who came laughed when he saw it and said it was one of the originals send out by Telstra when people first logged in with Broadband.

It took several calls to the Phillipines, and to mainland Australia, and then several more calls after the technician called to get up and running again with a new modem.  Wonder if this one will last for more than 10 years?

Anyway, I now have a slim silver modem blinking at me and email again, as well as access to blogland! I only have 58 emails to deal with and am now up-to-date with all internet duties! Back to crafting..........

SILs birthday card

Had to make a card for the SIL - he has a birthday later this week. It's busy in January!
I will enter it in the CES Challenge Blog - Vintage Darling! and in the Pattie's Creations Design Challenge - Fancy Fold.
Also for Aud Sentiments #45 Challenge - use scraps!

Base card is SU Crumb Cake (or Kraft) and SU Very Vanilla - my fold is a take on the Joy Fold. The brads are lovely vintage brads from SU and SU twine. The background papers are from the scrap stash. I just picked five papers that looked masculine and went together. The stamps are from Darkroom Door's Vintage Automobiles. The ink is Memento Rich Cocoa and Distress Antique Linen. 

Unwrap the linen thread and it opens up.......

.....to this! I distressed and inked the edges of the vanilla card but didn't add ink to anything else.  Keeps it a bit edgy I thought. 

Beautiful day today and I went out with the camera to take the photos of the card and ended up playing with the camera for 30 minutes in the sunshine, learning to take close ups and stuff.  They are not that good but better than I have done in the past. I must learn to use my camera better than I do.

Fern curl

Native bush - not sure of its name

Piece of the fence with old creeper root attached

Yet another one....

This card went together very quickly from a previously coloured image and some scraps from the scrap stash drawer, and another Penny Black stamp for the sentiment.  The image is an Annabelle Stamp image - Li'lle Monster. 

I was going to enter it into CR84FN Challenge #45 - blue, yellow and orange, but I was too late to enter (sigh)  but I am also entering it into Annabelle Stamps Challenge Anything Goes and the Card Crafters - Birthday Card challenge instead!

The die cut is a Spellbinders one in SU Marina Mist as is the ink. The orange card is SU Pumpkin Pie and the DP is from my stash and has no name on it so am unsure of maker. I coloured the image with Copics about six months ago and lost it in the mess of Christmas cards. The card is a commercial blank. 

Keeping it Simple

This is not as easy as it sounds.  Susan at Simplicity has challenged us to make a card using a single layer, and the colours of pink and red only, no others.  I have thought about this for a few days and yesterday I got a delivery from Stampin' Up with several new stamp sets.  I tried them out.

OWL#74

The little pink heart is crooked - deliberately? - sadly, no. The stamp set used is a new one from the Summer catalogue called You Are Loved and the little pink heart is from an older set called I (Heart) Hearts. The ink is Cherry Cobbler and the pearls are white Kaiser coloured up with a Copic pen to match. The card is a glossy white commercial blank and I rounded the corners.  

This is more than one layer but I like the simple look - again it is a stamp set from the mini called Pretty Postage and is punched out using the Postage Stamp Punch.  The ink is Cherry Cobbler and the card is a commercial blank. In both cards I tried to follow Susan's rule of thirds when positioning the images. 

More Maritime images

The DP from Stampin' Up was so lovely and I had to make a card for my brother's birthday next week, so I used an image from the paper and made his card before I tidied up.

The ink used is SU Not Quite Navy, and the sentiment is from Stamp It. The card is SU Not Quite Navy and the DP is the one mentioned below from SU's Summer mini. Couldn't resist tying a bit of twine s well here. It is all fussy cut, including the mount and the banner. Took me about 20 minutes!!!!

I will enter this in Card Crafter's Circle.  Their Challenge is for a Birthday Card.

Maritime Images

A male friend of ours turns 60 tomorrow so this is his card, made using the Stampin' Up  DP set in the new Summer Mini catalogue and the stamp set The Open Sea which matches it.  I have CASed this card.  Bakers twine also comes from this same mini - I used it a lot over Christmas on tags!

I will be entering this in the Annabelle Stamps - Anything Goes Challenge. Bye the way, Andrea has just launched five new clear stamp sets - very versatile and great for creating backgrounds as well as making great cards.

The sentiment stamp is from Penny Black and the ink used is SU Pacific Blue.  The frame is a SU punch and the die behind the world is  is from Spellbinders as is the circle.

Dandelion and Daisy

I acquired a stamp set for these two characters and while playing around made this - I used the MOJO Monday Sketch Challenge #223 to create this and will enter it in the Challenge.

I used Bazill card for the blank; and the papers from Pink Petticoat Vintage Rose Collection (freebie in Quick Cards Magazine) booklet. The image is from Dandelion and Daisy Clear Stamp 9071000.  I coloured it with Copics after stamping it out in Momento Close to Cocoa. The sentiment is in the same.  Some die cuts and ribbon and pearls and the hearts border is a Martha Stewart Punch. 

New Beginnings

....is the name of the Challenge over at Lili of the Valley Thursday Challenge blog, and so I coloured up a fairy with my trusty Copics and am entering her in this challenge. I will also enter her in the CPS #250 Sketch Challenge and the Lollipop Ladies Challenge #37 Minties (red, green and white!)

I used a Lili of the Valley image and sentiment.  The card is from SU - Pacific Point, Whisper White and Lucky Limeaide, with DP from Echo Park Dots and Stripes  pad. Flowers are from Prima. The die cut frames are from Shapeabilities. The card is a commercial blank. 

Still playin'.........

I was asked to make a card for the son of a friend.  He is working in the mines in WA and drives a Mac Truck.  So, I had a look on the internet, and this is my take on it.

It is mounted on black card and I cut this out for the front part of the truck,and then using an enlarged computer image, I cut this out and coloured it (Copics), and mounted it onto a piece of scrap kraft which had gone through a Tim Holtz embossing folder. I added a sentiment cut using a die, and the numbers are stick-ons, also coloured using Copics! 

You can see it open here

The inside has the same image used as a faded background, with the message printed onto it.  This is mounted on some Pacific Blue (SU) and then onto the Whisper White and then onto the black. Cutting out the shape was not easy. 

I am not sure if it will hold up as the fold is small and fragile.  

I have several photos from around my garden over the last week - it is cold today but has been hot and muggy/steamy lately, not what we are used to and the plants have loved it! 

African Lily

The jungle at the side of the house

Bloomin' Flowers

I made a few this arvo while listening to Australia defeat India at cricket in the second test - magnificent game this one; so many hundreds and so exciting.  Three Tasmanians in the team (over represented for the population compared to the rest of Aussie)  and all have done well - life is good. Hilfy has just got his third wicket and it will probably be over in four days instead of five. OK, OK.....back to the flowers...........

I have purchased a few die cuts over 2011 and have the new triple punch from Stampin' Up, and so have used up some of the scraps laying around on the desk after the Christmas cards etc, and made flowers to compare and see what each die or punch can do.  Still cannot make roses like Tillymint (you must give me a tutorial one day) who by-the-way has just been published in the latest edition of Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft (Congrats Sue) - however, I will practice!

Here are my attempts at creating a bouquet!

All of them!

I used glue stick and glitter on some of the die cut rolled small roses (Marianne dies), and added a few pearls in some.  These are thin papers

These are the thinker papers

Two different sizes 

Die cut Spellbinders Shapeabilities - Flower Creations in some lovely gold/blue embossed Japanese paper

The same die cut - this time SU Whisper White and Pacific Blue ink sponged onto the paper before it was taken out of the die - and the paper was also embossed prior to this and after the die cut was made.

These are the flowers from the triple SU punch and three brads from the SU set Everyday Enchantment

Three bigger rolled roses using a Die-namics die from My Favourite Things - the white one is a middle sized from Marianne. 

The blue ones are Shapeabilities Daisy Heads - cut and embossed onto SU DP; the purple ones are from a Quick Kutz Flower set on thin paper 

The Daisy Heads on SU White - cut, embossed and sponged with Melon Mambo

These are from a Marianne die set LR0196 and the card is from scraps of SU DP from the stash and the brads are cloth covered - I ran the glue pen around the petals and sprinkled them with glitter. 

These are from a Die-namics die - a bit like an Aster Daisy

Playing Around

The Christmas tree is down and the ornaments packed away; the cards are down and waiting to be dealt with (re-read with scissors to enjoy the greetings and save the useful stuff before I recycle the rest); the guest has departed and the room stripped, linen washed and dried and ready to make up the bed again.....the temperature was 32 degrees at its highest and the day was WARM (muggy)!

Sooo, what better excuse to play than that! I purchased a piece of clothing towards the end of last year and it had a label that had a silver moon in a circle. I took it downstairs and it floated on my desk for a while until one day I idly added a red velvet circle that was also floating. I liked the look but didn't get to make it up into anything until today.  I saw the Annabelle Stamps Blog Challenge Sketch #045 and thought about what I could make and my eye fell on the moon - so it was done!

This is the back of the label about to be stuck onto the orange sparkly card

The sparkly orange card is the DCWV Citrus pack I have been playing around with lately, and the black card I die cut the black from the stash; the ribbon is from Papermania and the black stars are from the cutouts. The sentiment is a rub-on and the red circle is from the Jenni B Collection. The base card is a commercial blank.  The bling stars are from Annabelle Stamps (they cover some of the writing on the tag). It's put together with double sided tape and dimentionals on the moon tag. 

I was given some chocolates by a friend (thanks Deborah) for Christmas and liked the little box they came in - when opened out it became obvious it was a great template, so I used it to create my own little box.  It is not decorated yet - but soon!

My first project is for January Challenge #1at UnstampaBelles - how exciting to be involved with these Belles. This Challenge closes on the 3rd February, and is for Anything Goes. 

The Sponsor of this Challenge is our own Merry Belle - Merry Made! She is offering the goodies in the photo below for this Challenge

                             
Purple patterned washi tape, 15 origami papers and patterns, 3 Copic Pens YR07, Y06, R27, a roll of Sellotape - double sided tape 12mm x 10m.

If you are interested in seeing what other goodies our Merry has available- check out this link!

MerryMade Store

Now, my project for the Challenge:

My husband had a birthday just after Christmas (on the 30th in fact) and so my project is the card I constructed for him! He was a keen yachtsman and sailor, and we used to have a boat and sail/cruise often in the beautiful waters of the Channel and the Derwent River Estuary here in Tasmania. And of course, we have just hosted the annual Sydney- Hobart Yacht Race and King of the Derwent here in Hobart.  The race starts on Boxing Day (Australian time) and concludes usually when the last boat sails in just before mid-night on New Year's Eve. So what better theme to use than a nautical one!

I used half a sheet of 12 x 12 Bazzil card to start with, and constructed a sweet box, with a folder card on top.  This pattern I have had for a while but I do not know where I got it from (or who I got it from). I decorated the card using Marianne Design die cuts LR0199, and the clouds are Whimsy Stamps Cloud Die set.  All the dies were cut using scrap papers - the launch is Co'ordinations; the yacht and clouds are from a shimmery card purchased some years ago in a pack and lost in my stash for a long time! The sun is from a sparkly DCWV Citrus pack and cut out with a circle punch (1"). They are mounted with dimentionals or double sided tape. The waves were created with Zva Creative crystal flourishes cut to fit.  I added a tag with a hand-written message, plus a small metal charm of a nautical steering wheel.  The numbers on the yacht sails are stickers and represent the age of the recipient! The message is inside and was computer generated onto white paper and cut to fit inside the card. The lollies were from Christmas (left-overs!) and are kept in by a small sheet of acetate fitted inside the box during construction.  

A side on view

Sneeking a look inside the card - the sentiment inside was computer generated and printed off, and then glued into the card.