Easel card for Unstampabelles

........................and I added an extras twist of using stickers this time!

My hubby's nephew turns 50 soon - he is an engineer, and so I tried to do something that was clean and purposeful.   I used papers from a Kaiser (Periwinkle) stack and  border and tag stickers from Making Memories 5th Avenue collection.

Obviously the Kaiser ribbon shown above got rejected when sorting out what to use!

I added an antique brad from Stampin' Up; a piece from Prima's Almanac Paper Pack and a piece of vellum containing a message.  I added also some black ribbon and the number 50 die cut using a Di-namics set.

Wishing you Blue Skies and Sunshine

Gingerloft have a new challenge  

Torn and Distressed

I have used the Gingerloft image called bonvoyage and I have printed it off onto X-Press card, and distressed it with TH Distress inks and the SU distress tool. I masked off the main image before I did this, and this has left a slight line around the main image.  I didn't want to decoupage this one, so I will go with the line.

 I then removed the mask and coloured in the image using my Copic pens and then sort of burnished it with the Antique Linen ink in sponge. It has give it a lovely soft look.  I added AtYaSpika (red) to the detail on the clouche (hat). The DP behind the main image is a piece of scrap from the scrap box - yes, still got it - and the background one is a Basic Grey Capella piece.  Both these pieces of paper were distressed and torn as well.

The sentiment stamp is from Inkadinkado and is stamped onto a SU Very Vanilla piece in TH Distress Vintage Photo and torn to fit the space. The string is also SU and the button is from my grandmother's button box. I did add some bling too. The base card is SU Poppy Parade.  

It could be a either for a birthday or for a goodbye card, or just a note. Nothing inside it yet - haven't decided.

Challenge #67 at Lollipop Ladies

Hi Peeps

Today I am showing you what I have done for the Lollipop Ladies new challenge.......or I hope I am as this has been scheduled! Over at Lollipop Ladies we are very sad.  Last challenge had very little interest; few comments and fewer entries! I really don't know why because the prize was fabulous (Annabelle Stamps) and the chance of winning with only the need for seven entries for the prize to be given is very good odds!

However, we hope this fortnight's creative juices will be moving with a new challenge - remember, we are a challenge based on Lollies (sweeties/sweets/candy) and there sure are some strange varieties out there.  Again this time I have not tasted these, but I do remember seeing small beings playing with them at some stage!

So without further ado......(roll of drums).......the next challenge is

Moustaches with the added twist of Facial Hair!

Remember, you do not have to add the twist but why not challenge yourself anyway!You can go distressed, as I did; play up a photo of a family member; just chose the cola and sand colour scheme; think of the moustache as wings; whatever takes your fancy - hubby just said it reminded him of Hercule Pierot! 

 What do you think????

This is an old stamp of mine and I really don't know where it came from but I have a suspicion is from The Queen's dresser or Artist Stamper. The man had a moustache but it is piddling compared to his new one! This came from Kaiser's Collections, as did the tie.  Other ephemera is from my stash and was purchased at a craft show a few years ago and I don't have the name - in the years before I was game to have a go at distressed but just loved the look of it!

Anyhooo.....it is stamped up with Momento ink and distressed with TH Distress inks of various ilks - Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen and Fired Brick. The sentiment and camera come from a Darkroom Door set - Photography.  The card which is stamped is SU's Very Vanilla and the background paper (so suitable!) is from Echo Park - Times and Seasons, and there is an SU Antique brad there as well. 

 Good male card.

Halfway for Unstampabelles - a Gin Tin!

 Take one tin from a bottle of gin purchased by hubby for my use!

Too useful to throw out, I thought (the tin not the gin - never throw that out!)

 Select the papers (Prima Almanac Collection - Shaffer) 

Measure fold and cut - forget to paint the top of the tin at this stage.

 Paint the tin lid - organise the embellies (Kaiser eggs and nest; Prima card; Kaiser chipboard bird)

Painted bird and lid with TH Distress ink - crackle old linen, and add some TH Red Brick ink

Dry off using heat gun before adding ink!

Watch the paint flake from lid top - quite like the effect but realise should have primed it first!!

Tried out various ways to attach birds nest to lid - started to add things - feathers, tulle (from SU; small tulle roses (from SU)

Add lace to top and bottom of tin - realise you haven't painted tin and do it after adding lace - carefully! Also employed a Copic pen to assist covering up the blue - had learnt lesson re lid so sanded the blue first - but some is still able to be seen.  Over it now - so it's part of the finished piece!

 Folded tulle in half and stitched with a running stitch through fold, pulled tight and formed a flower for the nest to rest on; stitched nest to this; glued nest to this too. Stuck tulle to the lid. 

Added embellies to side of tin

Added charm to birdcage - interesting moment trying to stick birdcage to the tin with charm latch between but managed!

Added ribbon

Back of tin - you can still see the blue!!!

Not sure what I will do with it now! Or where I will put it. Perhaps I will give it away! Nah - too pretty. I'll find something for it to do!

Dragonflies' Blog Candy

Hi all

Just a reminder that Dragonflies have a very generous give-away to celebrate the start of our challenge blog. You can find my post about this here.  You just need to follow a few simple instructions and enter the competition to win - copy the first picture on your blog, link back to Drangonflies and link up with Mr Linky, and then make a comment. Easy-peasy!  Only four entries to date - don't forget to enter for this wonderful blog candy!

Here is the picture of some of the loot that you need to copy!

There is also a second prize!

Born to be Wild!

LOL - I saw this digi at Gingerloft and just loved it! 

Again, it reminded me of our youth on the farm - all three of us riding the fat pony until she got so sick of us she would move over to the old crab apple tree and take us under the lowest branch and just brush us all off! This despite whoever had the reins sawing and pulling to stop it happening - but it was always inevitable!

Taken in shade

I also remember my younger brother being a cowboy and riding her across the wet, steep paddock - yes, she fell and he fell, and I thought he was dead but he wasn't! Both were OK in the end but the memory is still there of the Dr visiting the house - unheard of! I remember he was a bit bruised for a while and had a sore leg but I think he landed under her and because the ground was so wet, sunk into the turf! Happy days, eh!!

Taken in full sun

The challenge this fortnight is 

One For the Boys

We all have trouble making male cards (or nearly all of us) and need to add a few more to our stash.  Here is your chance! Remember, you get three digi's of your choice from Gingerloft if your card is chosen - random choice - and you could be featured as a top three!

I will enter this in the following challenges:

Crafting by Design:  animals

Inky Impressions: for a child

Through the Classroom Door: anything goes

Ink Impressions Giveaway

Couldn't resist this one - looks good!

Lego for Lollipop Ladies

Where Gin get's these photos of lollies from, I don't know but I cannot say I have seen these before. Have you?

My experience of lego blocks is red or yellow blocks, used for building....... or if you are my grandson, for creating planes, boats, cars, buildings, people, insects.......

However, the twist in this one for  The Lollipop Ladies is toys! 

As I said on the Lollipop Ladies blog, the best things in life.................are not things.

This image has always reminded me of my younger brother and I when we were little kids growing up in the farm. Not that I wore a dress very often! Mostly it was t-shirt and shorts in summer and jodhpurs and jumper in winter. Nothing has changed that much really in that department - except it is now jeans not jodhpurs!

The image is Stampin' Up and I have stamped it onto XPress Blending card with Momento black ink and coloured it in with the trusty Copics.  I then cut a piece of A4 Whisper White in half vertically, folded down one piece to make the card blank; used part of the other to cut smaller and mount onto red card.  I then used Spellbinders to cut a large circle out of both pieces of card and fixed it over the image; I put both onto the base card and used some Kaiser bling to add to it.

I will enter this in the following challenges:
Aud Sentiments: sentiment for a child
Milkcoffee challenge: Anything but square
Inky Impressions: for a child

Happy Birthday Catherine

It was our daughter's birthday yesterday and we had a lovely family gathering at home, with a roast and some cupcakes! This is her card.

It's an easel card and the papers are all SU (and card) and the sentiments stamps are (circle) LOTV (best birthday) Stamp-It.  The main image is a Penny Black and I have had it for a long time. She is of course coloured with Copics (onto Very Vanilla card so I had to be careful the ink didn't run).  Ribbon from stash and the bling is Kaiser. Ink used is TH Distress - Red Brick.

I took this in a hurry as she was walking in the door as I was taking the photo - so no time for a second one or a sideways look!It was a busy morning - up early to make gluten-free cup cakes; over to the Radio station to prepare and read on air the morning newspapers; home to organise the roast lamb and roast vegies; made the icing and iced the cupcakes;  and put out nibbles. I have a very supportive hubby who put the oven on for me before I got home, did a last minute shop and set the table beautifully! When I got home he told me he was tired......... oh, yes, I had not wrapped the pressie (or card) so I found a small cardboard box and that had to do! What so they say about builder's houses????

Cupcakes and orange/pink icing - when you make butter icing, the food colouring does not come the colour you want - think paint theory! So yellow and red = orange,not pink!!! (Bye the way, the Keno pamphlet is not ours! It is now in the rubbish! We do a Tats lotto on Saturday's only and never seem to do anything but the occasional small win.  Mind you, our grandaughter won the thing as part of a syndicate from work last year!)

Drangonflies are stirring and getting ready to fly!

Hi - just to let you know that the Creating with Dragonflies Challenge blog has the most amazing blog candy to give away just to celebrate the fact that we are going to issue our first challenge on the first of May!



and that's not all.......I just copied all this from the Dragonflies blog because it is just so exciting!!!!!

The Blog Candy consists of:

4 x Sets of Clear Stamps: 
Kaisercraft: Blae & Ivy
Pink Paislee: Nantucket
Inkadinkadoo: Snakeskins
Inkadinkadoo: Road Trip
3 Paperpads: 
6 x 6 Teresa Collings-World Traveller
12 X 12 Dog Days by Deja Views
12 x 12 Cat;s life by Deja Views
2 x Alpha/Num foam sticker sheets ( 1 black, 1 pink)
Selections of Paper doilies
DIY 10pk Scored and folded Card pack 15x15 cm
Selection of 3d Flowers incl. Crochet ones
2 small pakts of 3d Roses
small pack of embellies
1 x roll 50m/6mm double sided tape
Cuttlebug embossing folder : Swirls
6 white folded/3 hole paper bags, ready to make an album
24 large/long pearl headed stick pins
Selection of gold/silver 3d padded angel wings
24 large Apricot coloured paper flowers
3d Buttons/ embellies
Selection of Organza Ribbons
Small damask print craft tote bag with pockets (black/white and grey)
---------------------------------
WOW
 (I want to win this one!!!)

The blog candy will run for the whole month of April, to be in the running to win this awesome prize, you must become a member of this blog and help spread the word, by posting the first pic (top one) on your blog with the link back to  Creating with Dragonflies Challenge blog  Please click on the Linky (when you get there) to leave your entry and please leave a comment....

Thanks so much for doing that.

And..............we also have a second prize from Kitty Lane.

Kitty Lane is an Australian Company making gorgeous rubber stamps.
These are great quality and easy to use stamps that have a crisp and clear print.
To buy stamps from Kitty Lane, go here:
(If you want to see what they look like inked up, go here:  I have inked, coloured and made up these two stamps for Kitty and they are beautiful stamps)

ONE MORE TIME:
Join the blog, click on Mr Linky to leave your entry and leave a comment. Post the main blog candy pic with a link back to Crafting with Dragonflies on your blog.
One entry only
Easy, both winners will be chosen by random org.
Tell your friends and spread the word.

The blog candy will officially start on the 1st of April and end on the 30th of April 2013

Anything but a card.....for Unstampabelles

Happy Easter
and I hope you are all having a great break!

plus: Happy Birthday Catherine!

Now, for April the  Belles this month are steering away from cards and making anything but..... and the sponsor for our challenge this month is

So....lets see what you can make with this challenge: here is my effort so far.

Two small boxes of goodies made from templates -and white linen card - and decorated.  The heart holds only four small eggs, but you could put anything in there. The box has about 8 small eggs inside - didn't really count.

The die cut Easter eggs are die cut from a sheet of embossed card - I brayered the inside of the folder with Versamark and carefully inserted some SU Whisper White into the folder and wound it through the Big Shot.  Then I sprinkled the card with Egyptian Gold EP from Stamp-It and embossed using the heat gun. Once I had die cut the eggs I smooched around the edges with TH Distress ink - Red Brick. 

The templates were given to me by a friend (Hi Glenda!) for my birthday and they are so easy to make and look good.  I made these up in some thicker linen card given to me by Kitty Lane.  It really is a lovely weight and feel for things like this. On scrounging through my stash I could not find a sticker or anything that represented Easter for sentiment or whatever, but I did have a ribbon with some small characters on it - one was a rabbit and one was a chicken.  I carefully cut them from the ribbon and used glue to place them to stop fraying somewhat. Ribbons and flowers are from my stash. The small round tag is a die cut one too. 

This is a back view of both boxes

A closer view of the ribbon characters

So, that is my 

Unstampabelles Anything But A Card 

inspiration for you this month! 

Challenges I will link to:

4 Crafty Chicks: Easter

Crafty Creations:  Easter

Decorate to Celebrate: These boxes could be used to place at table settings or hang on bushes for an Easter egg hunt..................