Cold Weather? No - Beautiful Days!

This week we have had the pleasure of the company of Lily and Jack from Canberra, and their Dad. It's school holidays there so time to visit the Grandparents!

We have had a few adventures - Lily and Jack have been to Port Arthur and returned safely without being locked up! We have played Putt Putt golf (Llo - Grandfather - won) and the kids went swimming this morning at the pool.  We have been to the Newseum (New Refurbished Museum), watched a lot of videos, went to Llo's club for dinner and ate a lot of special treats!

We also crafted but you will see that later. Lily (10) has also made a card!

This is using a digi from Digital Delights and the cookies and sentiment come from a collection of digis's called Help for Katie. This has been coloured with pencils and SU markers. There is a Marianne heart die cut and the cards are SU Pink Passion and Lucky Limeaide. SU markers were used to colour the sentiment.

We are entering this in the following challenges:
C.R.A.F.T Challenge: photo inspiration - its pink, blue and green and warm and so is the Flamingo in her lovely scarf!
CanYouDigiIt: about your pets (she says she would love to have a Flamigo and be able to dance with it - I just got a demo! Definitely NOT ballet - dag style!)

I made a card too - mine has a window with acetate and uses a new Marianne die cut I have acquired. 

White bazzil card folded for the base; some flowers from the stash; some die cuts and a ribbon with a bit of bling!

Working out how to cut the card was interesting, and then I stuck in the acetate window but I forgot to cut the card for the inside front (not shown but there is a patterned paper over the acetate edges to hide it inside) and had to then work out my place to cut very, very carefully! Duh!

This sentiment is from SU's new set Pursuit of Happiness - I outlined the word happy with red SU pen. The red card is SU Poppy Parade. The red flowers have been hanging around in the stash for ages. The star die cut is from Memory Box.

I will enter this in the following:

ART Card Challenges: I turned the sketch sideways

Paper Pretties: sentiment as focal point.

Tuesday Throwdown: Anything Goes

Beautiful Tree's for Gingerloft

The challenge at Gingerloft this challenge is to create a card using Trees - Tami has a few images to work with that are stunning but I really like the one I used called Tree On Hill - self explanatory - as it is so sedate and cool and elegant.

The inside has a text sentiment from Gingerloft too - I just swiped a Copic pen across in two colours.  It is mounted on some SU Grey and distressed around the edges.

The image was printed off onto XPress Blending card and lightly coloured up with the Copic pens. I layered this onto SU Grey, and distressed the edges of both pieces of card. The card underneath is the new SU Summer Sky colour.

Again I distressed the edges and added an SU vintage brad and some string,  I stamped the sentiment with Momento Tuxedo Black ink and used an SU stamp from the new set Happy Day. 

The card blank was made from some SU Cherry Cobbler, and I add a little bit of bling. 

I have two Grandchildren and their father from Canberra visiting for a week - starting from today - and time is short! 

I will enter this in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments: Sentiment that is two words - yep!

Charisma Cards: No DP used

Daring Do and Pirate Adventures!

Over at the Lollipop Ladies we have a challenge #72 running for the month over July (normally they are each fortnight) and this month the theme is Pirates and the twist is WATER.

This is the inspirational photo

Here is my Tri-fold card using the theme of Pirates:

digi Pirate Johnny - by Meljen - coloured with Copics and Stickles added; frame die cut and ink sponged around

a Bugaboo Digi, with treasure chest too, but the map was on a website about Pirate sayings, printed off and fussy-cut out. Stickles on the sabre!

This is from Meljen too. I sponged ink across top of water and added a sky with the sun out!

The flag is from my die cut stash. The background papers from the stack of left-over papers laying on the table. 

The poem is from the website on Pirate sayings, printed off and ink sponged around. 

I used a few dimentionals to lift up the boy pirate and the sun. My rock is my own drawing! All coloured in with Copics. 

The sentiments come from a freebie stamp off a Craft magazine. The card is SU Tempting Turquoise and the DP with the ships is from SU as well. 

It is kinda cute! Great for a little boy's birthday! There is a story there too if you can read it.

Please enter this challenge - at the moment there is only one entry! 

I will enter this in the following challenges:

Creative Corner: Anything Goes

Delicious Doodles: Create some scenery - yep, underwater and above water!

Just Add Ink: Water! Yes, behind Pirate Johnny and in the sea!

Southern Girls:  No Spoolin! Nope, none here....

Just had to say......

*wink*

for me Pirates!

Unusual Fold for Crafting with Dragonflies

We are up to Challenge #6 for Crafting with Dragonflies and the Dragonflies are asking you to create a card with an unusual fold but NOT AN EASEL CARD........

...................in fact, anything but an Easel Card

As an added twist, either give instructions on making it  OR  a link to where you got the idea. 

Our generous sponsors for this challenge are Delicious Doodles

4 Digis of winners choice

and

 and Di's Digi Designs (a $10 gift voucher)

Wow, how generous are they - thanks people!

I made a Bendifold -  but I will probably make a different shape because I am not very happy with it. I saw this on Splitcoaststampers and loved the one that was created by Bibiana, and foolishly thought I would have a go - here is one of hers:

It's gorgeous! Obviously way above my skill level however as I discovered when making mine!

Here is mine: what do you think?

A garden scene, using Hilde's freebie flowers for a focus!

I started off OK and had no problems following the instructions to make the base card - the tags to hold the curves need to be carefully made and remade as you add things to the front (and back) of the bends - I chose not to add to the back of my bends as I was already a bit overloaded on the front. 

You can see the tags here

This is a back view 

I printed out three copies of the digi's and coloured them up with Copics.  I then masked them and sponged over some Memento Summer Sky and New Sprout ink to take the brightness of the white card away.

I used a lot of dies - mostly Memory Box, but not all. I cut the flowers out in white card and then coloured them straight with no blending using the Copics. The snail by MB was in grey card and I added the eye but it got covered with glue - I tried to erase it with my glue eraser but the marks still show.

The cat is MB too - isn't it cute - no glue here.  Murphy's law says where it doesn't show it would be!! The fence is from Cheery Lyn and I glued some wood paper to some kraft, and then die cut it out - I was please with this effect. 

The vine is Die-namics and the tree is is Spellbinders. The clouds are Whimsy.

The salutation is from SU - Apothecary Art

So - a Bendicard fold...........it was fun to make I must admit.

I will enter this in the following challenges:
Can You Digi It: Summer theme
Paper Minutes: Anything Goes
Shopping our Stash:  Summer colours - yep!

Another weather report

This is today, sunny and freezing cold! There is no wind thank goodness. We got half of July's normal  rain yesterday and it leaked in my workshop! Not happy Jan!

A (blurry) photo of the snow today

A calmer river and snow on the hills around

Weather report!

As I type this up it is a beautiful sunny day - if you ignore the cold and the wind. The first of the winter snow is on the mountain and the wind is blowing a gale, over 100 mph on Monday, and about 50 today.  The windows were covered with spray from the water on Monday, but since then it has rained, and they have been washed cleaner. I really love winter - really - and I even love wind but not quite the constant heavy variety we have been getting, which is coming straight from Antartic.

A bit of snow

Love the mountain

Wind on the river

Stampin'Up Offer

There is a good deal on Salutation sets going at SU at the moment - contact me if you are interested!

If you want a copy of the new catalogue, let me know and I  will organise SU to send you one - it will cost $9.00 each copy and be sent directly to you.

Unstampabelles Challenge Blog is 2 years old!

Happy Birthday to Merry and the team!

To celebrate being TWO we - the UnstampaBELLES -  are having a birthday theme. 

There is a BIG prize also being offered for the birthday celebration by myself - I am a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, and so much of the loot being offered here is from Stampin' Up! If you are interested in any SU stuff or information, or want to learn to use the goodies available - let me know by email!

Enough of the advertorial!

My Birthday card says HB in so many ways - without actually using it in the sentiment. I was determined to use up some of the growing pile of left-overs and stash stuff just laying around on my desks (yes, you read it correctly, desks.  I have three and they are all as messy as each other!).

For example I had embossed and die cut some butterflies using some SU Primrose Petals card, and they were just laying there as I had decided not to use them when I actually die cut them for another project. 

There were three LOVE tickets left over from an SU kit I had purchased, as well as a die cut with hearts on the top from this set, with some lace, ribbon and different lace also left over. All this was in a small plastic bag (I was being tidy) and then thrown into a box on the desk for later! The plastic packet also had some left-over buttons from the same kit.

I swished some TH Distress ink around (Salty Ocean) and used a rub-on on the bottom of the diecut, and added a pearl. Thought it still looked a little bare, so added two Prima fleurs. 

The heart is die cut from an SU die and embossed using a Cuttlebug Happy Birthday EF.  I used a left-over piece of card and again smooched it with the TH Distress ink. I had a strip of pink striped paper so just added it to the mix. 

The background is  a piece of linen card which has had a mask laid on it and then TH Distress inks sponged onto it through the mask. I had used one piece of it as the mask is quite large, and this was a left over piece. Once cut to size I rubbed the THDI around the edges on this too. The actual card is a commercial blank.

I added the pearls to the butterflies and the corners, and told myself to stop! Not sure if it is quite finished.  It has been pulled apart three times to date - what's the bet it gets pulled apart again!

Anyway, no stamps but still a Happy Birthday card. Let's see if you can make one without using either a rubber or digital stamp of any kind. If you enter the challenge I may be sending you the parcel of goodies in the photo above!

I will enter this in the following challenges:

Go Confidently....

.....in the direction of your Dreams.

On Wednesday night I went to a school/college production of the old 50's Musical "Curtains", and saw a piece of theatre that would not be sneezed at on Broadway - I've been there and seen a couple of shows so I do know what they are like.  The kids were spectacular and the singing was excellent for most of the leads, with the dancing pretty snappy too. All the entrances and exits were good and on cue and it ran very smoothly. Better yet, I could hear every word spoken or sung - clear and enunciated beautifully, even with a fake America accent or too.

Didn't hurt that my grand-daughter Hettie was one of the leads either. Last night tonight (Saturday night)- and then bump out before leaving the theatre.  Guess she will be home very late! Well done kiddo.

God, she looks so grown up!

My card is for her..........and for GINGERLOFT's next challenge - RED. WHITE and BLUE!

I guess if you live in the USA you could do this one for the 4th July celebrations, but I don't, so I didn't.

The digi is called Beach, and has a lovely dreamy look, so I didn't colour it up too brightly - I used my Prisma's and Zest to colour it, and a Sixzzix frame die to put it in.  Layered up some papers from my stash, and used a sentiment from VERVE to finish it off. There is a doily there as well and some bling.

I will enter this in the following challenges:
Five Simple things: Anything Goes for Inspire me Fridays
Left of Centre: use a sentiment on the front
QKR Stampede: Anything Goes