Time to Celebrate

For a while now I have subscribed to the UK magazine Craft Stamper, and not only because they give away a small stamp each addition, usually something from a known designer and from one of their latest sets of stamps. They are clear polymer, and usually of a great standard.  This card has the last three give-aways used on it, and I am entering it into the challenge #25 from Tuesday Throwdown - to use 'inchies': to me, these are squares, of an inch.  However, mine uses squares that are bigger than that - in fact they are inches x's 2!

I used a gold square commercial blank card, and cut out one square to create the window. I drew around the other three windows with a gold pen, and stamped within them before colouring them up with Copics. I used the square from the gold card on the fourth window, and a small felt Christmas tree in the Christmas stash from last year. I ran the Versamark ink around the edges of the white card and embossed it with gold EP.

Stamps: Freebies from Craft Stamper

Paper and Card: SU Whisper White; gold commercial blank card

Ink: Encore Ultimate Metallic gold; Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: JudiKins EP Egyptian Gold; felt tree; bling; Copics

Another challenge is from Let's Ink It Up, on recycling but I wanted to practice what I was doing first, so I used some images cut from a Christmas card we got last year, and covered them with Versamark and then used some clear EP but it has a shimmer in it. Then I made a card with them. The first photo shows the images covered with the holographic EP.  The second photo indicates the depth of colour in this powder. The third photo, apart from showing it is raining here, also indicates the actual card. I had an idea of stamping the city of David behind then wise men, but they are too large and so I had to give that away and need to think of something else to give this treatment too.

Stamps: WMS Nutcraker set for sentiment

Paper and Card: SU Pacifric Point; blue shimmer card from stash

Ink:  Memento Paris Dusk

Other: JudiKins EP Clear Holographic

Iris's in Spring...

I have a challenge card and a photo of my black (deep purple) iris to share today.  Firstly, the Annabelle Stamps challenge "Say it in gold...."

A variety of stamp sets and stuff (see below) and it really is more sparkly than it looks - the day is dull and my digital is just a little one. 

Stamps: Flourishes City of David set; WMS - Let it Snow set; Image Tree background text stamp

Paper and Card: SU Riding Hood Red; Confetti White; Gold paper scraps

Ink: Encore Ultimate Metallic gold

Other: JudiKins EP Egyptian Gold

Here is my lovely iris - waiting for my beautiful brown one as well but it's not doing anything. There will be at least four blooms on this one stalk. Yippee!

Let it snow....

What do you think?  Card one or card two?  I have remembered to colour in the base of his coat now, the same colour as the trim (pink). Wasn't until I was preparing the photo's that I even noticed it wasn't coloured in! I am not sure if the sentiment circle should be there or now - take it out or leave it there?

Made the ribbon rose by threading a bit of cotton through one side and pulling into a rosette, and added a pearl brad. WSM Nutcracker set for the image, nestabilities, copics and sundry pieces of Christmas paper, plus a Papermania Christmas stamp and SU Melon Mambo ink and card. A Martha Stewart edge punch added to it.  Oh, and Stickles around the edge of the image, and an embossed snowflake in gold from the discontinued SU set called The Snowflake Spot. The whole thing is following the layout (sort-of: CASED) of a card called Autumn Leaves in the October edition of Cardmaking and Papercraft, UK magazine, page 24. 

Busy doing nothing much...

You know how it is. However, I have been blog hopping and noticed that Becca's husband John died last week - and wish to post my condolences to someone's whose blog I have watched and whose work I have admired  from afar. Some of you reading this may have seen Amazing Paper Grace, her blog, before - if not, it is well worth a visit when Becca is back as she is a really gifted card maker.

Now, I have been busy doing lots of something, but don't really know what that might be....I started Christmas shopping, but tore my hamstring while waiting for a bus home, so that slowed me down a bit.  I have made a few cards - not many.  I have been helping the eldest granddaughter face her final exams at year 12, and with some assignments and planning in-class essays. The last essay we got an A-, and 2 B+'s (not too bad)! The painters are due again today (not showed up yet!) but we are ready for them.

Anyway, the cards:

The bush is supposed to represent a gum tree rather than a pine, the traditional christmas tree - after all, we are in Australia. As a child, we usually had a native tree to decorate. The WMS Nutcraker stamp set is used here, and for the sentiment for the one below.

This card is made with left-over's from the SU punch I used to make the leaves for the tree - couldn't waste those birds, so make this quickly out of left-overs. 

The next two are made as a result of a class I missed because I was ill a few weeks ago - but the kit was kept for me. I made them up quickly - don;t usually like the peel-offs, but every now and then, they work well. The top one uses acetate and a folded over top of the black card, with an insert with a photocopy of a map showing on the outside through the acetate, and being able to write inside it - sent it to my baby brother for his birthday! The car was peeled off and stuck on black card and then fussy-cut before attaching it to the acetate.

This one came in the kit also, and is another way of using the peel-offs, and again the big car was stuck on black card, fussy-cut and then attached with dimentionals to lift it off the base card. The black card was folded at the back and had a white card attached as the back, and then when the three smaller cars were attached and fussy-cut around at the top, the white showed through.  The peel-off is all shiny and sparkly. Both cards took about 15 minutes each to make. 

New November blog candy

Aud Sentiments has new blog candy for November and guess what it is! Annabell Stamps! Yeah! So, here is the  word on it and here is the link to them, so go and enter and get in the mix to win the stamps.

One of a Kind

The first card is for There She Goes sketch challenge #78.
The second card is for the Annabelle Sketch Challenge + bling.

The first one was also for the last Papercraftstar photo inspiration challenge, where I used the colours from the photo to inspire me and the Tuesday's Throwdown #22  "anything goes', but I was too late for both of them!

I have used SU DP's and a piece of Co'ordinations card which I lightly sanded. The sentiment comes from the SU set One of a Kind, but the image is a Crafty Individuals C1 - 193. I used Momento Rich Cocoa ink, used a Copic for the pink breast and sponged the edges of the SU oval punch I used for the sentiment. I then added a piece of greenish ribbon and mounted it all on SU kraft card, and it's done.

This card is using the papers from a Papermania set called Silent Night. The image and sentiment are from WMS set Nutcrackers.  I have added some ribbon and some green sprinkles for bling! The image is coloured with Copics after being stamped in Memento ink Rich Cocoa on cream card. 

It's a rainy day today but warm - not as rainy as the mainland I hear, but still a bit wet. We had 1.2 cm last night and it is drizzling as I speak. Had my first seen huntsman in the house Friday night - yuk! He/she was lively and BIG.  Poor John had to get out of bed and get on a stepladder and remove him/her from the bedroom! Time to call the spiderman to come back and make sure they desist from entering. 

A couple of digi images for Christmas

Little Paper Shop has a sketch challenge #91 going at the moment, and I had a free digi image from them ready to colour up with the copics, so that's what happened! Delightful Challenges also allows two entries into their current challenge if you use an image from them, and they had this funny winter flamingo as a freebie this month, so again, I coloured it up with copics!

The flamingo is mounted on pink scrap card, and then on a piece of SU Whisper White which was folded into a card, and then one side had been put through the bug embossing folder with snowflakes. A scrap of ribbon tied through a button from Memory Keeper, and the WSM sentiment stamp in black completed this. 

This sketch #91 from LPS suited the image, which I had printed off and then put through a nestabilities square, and embossed.  I coloured the image with Copics, and then masked it and sponged it with blue ink lightly.  I used some glitter on the image to look like ice as well. The image called 'Katie Skating' was mounted on a scrap of Co'ordinations and then put between two pieces of Kaiser paper, on a background of pink card.  I used some paper ribbon on the bottom for the sentiment. 

Worked for four hours today - enjoyed it greatly.  

Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge

Yes, another card. This one is for Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #79, and for Tuesday Throwdown #22 - Anything Goes, as well as Delightful Challenges - "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"

I had inked up the St Nicholas stamp from WMS set Nutcracker, and stamped some images onto the X-press card, after I had cut out the shapes from Nestablilites Labels 4, ready to be coloured with Copics.  However, I had not done any colouring-in for a while, and felt the need to feed the inner child. That's why this is a Christmas card.

 I used card from the DCWV Citrus stack to back the image and to make the oval and scallop behind it. The background is a piece of scrap red I had put through an embossing folder in the bug and had sprayed with mica spray,so it has a bit of a shimmer. The blue also has a shimmer.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set. The card is a commercial blank and I added three small poinsettia's that I picked up at a craft fair earlier this year.

I did some relief work yesterday, and will go back tomorrow and work for the rest of the week.  A bit of a shock to the system! So, I probably won't get much crafting done. But, who knows......

Clean and Simple Challenge

Am I too late - hope not!

Clean and Simple FTL#112 sketch challenge
There She Goes TSG #77 Colour challenge - green, black and orange
Annabelle stamps - "Say it in - black and white" challenge

I used a background paper from DCWV All Dressed Up, some ribbon, the stamp set from TSG called Art is the Window and a Prima flower.  All mounted on SU orange card. I stamped the sentiment with SU Craft white ink and didn't get a really clean print with it - it looked OK before I embossed it and the bird with clear embossing powder. I will go back to Versamark I think for this type of thing. 

This is a Flourish stamp set called City of David and the sentiment is from a WMS set. I stamped it on black card with Craft white SU ink - very juicy - and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I then added some ribbon, pearls and mounted it on a shiny white bazzil and then on a black and white background paper before putting it onto a white commercial blank. The ribbon is sparkly and the embossing also sparkles but the photograph does not show that properly. Poor camera work - sorry.

Just a Note Box

When tidying up my desk (one of them, I have three) I found 7 images cut from cards given to me by a older friend "because they are pretty and it's a shame to throw them out". Thanks Mary. Anyway, I turned them into six Note Cards and then decorated a box to match. Added some envelopes and now I can give it back to her as a box of note cards!

Here it is.  I used just scraps and stuff from the stash, nothing new or fresh, except the stamp from Annabelle Stamps from the set called Sentimental Bluebells.  I also had an insert in the card with the date and a stamp with an arrow and the comment "Here's the Scoop" but I don't know who made the set. It was an early clear stamp set I got, some years ago. I also use lace and some bling.

The box lid

The inside takes six cards and envelopes. I will put in some stamps as well. 

There were three cards x 2 each. The image on the box top was an extra.