Kaszazz - Create Yourself card

Hi Again! I've made it to 700 posts! (This is #700) I am so amazed I've made it this far on my little old blog! In that time, I've made a whole bunch of new friends, seen a lot of different trends, joined Stampin' Up!, left SU!, opened my card store on MadeIt, seen my style evolve, join 2 amazing Design Teams, and of course, got Feeling Sketchy up and running with a group of lovely ladies. I will hopefully have many more posts coming! Now, onto my card -

This sentiment is one of my favourite, and while flicking through my Kaszazz catalogue, I knew I had to have it I stamped it on a piece of Vanilla card stock, in Soft Suede ink, and cut it out using my Spellbinders. I then went rifling through my draw of off cuts to find some patterned papers, I came up with this yellow dot one (not sure of the brand) and some Teresa Collins orange paper, each layer has been mounted on Soft Suede card with a piece of Ribbon Carousel's Red Dual Stripe Organic Twill ribbon tied in a bow. I added a little bit of red bling to the scallop shapes of the die cut, and decided this card was done. 

I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches as inspiration, turning the sketch on its side to accommodate my sentiment. I am also linking this up to the Ribbon Carousel Fall into Fall challenge

Thanks for popping by for my 700th post :)

Cornish Heritage - Kitty Stamp Thank You Card

Hi Guys! Back today with another card from the Tuesday... This one is a card especially for my little sister ("Hi Beck") and in a way for my Dutch cousin Joan, who really wanted to see some cat cards on my blog...  I have avoided doing anything with cats for a couple of reasons, but the big one recently is, Mark took the cats when he moved out, so apart from seeing their adorable faces on the fridge door as magnets, I don't get to see them anymore. When he moved, this was one of the toughest things for me. The kitties were definitely my babies, but I know they are being loved, and looked after at least... On with the card hey?

My dear friend Annmaree sent me this image last week, and it was actually the first time I've coloured an animal stamp (in a very long time at least) I used my Stampin' Write Markers on watercolour paper, and a blender pen. I then cut the main image out using my spellbinders nestie Ovals and a Nestie Label 4 in Soft Suede. I stamped my woodgrain stamp on the Bashful Blue base and Soft Suede label in coordinating ink. I then wrapped some Moss Green Seam Binding ribbon around the blue base and tied a big bow. I layered it all onto a Crumbcake base and added three Blush Blossom Mini Rolled Roses  and a sentiment in Soft Suede to finish it all off. 

I am entering this into two challenges, the first is the sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches which grabbed me as soon as I saw it. I think its the ribbon treatment to be honest, I love that it frames the card nicely... Next up is the Fancy Flowers challenge at the Ribbon Carousel.

 

Thanks for popping by :) 

Some Odd Girl - Royal Mothers Day Card

I know mothers day has been and gone, but I have to show you the card I made for my mum.

I made up a Centre Step card (it was the first time I've made one) using this tutorial. I messed it up twice before reading the instructions properly :P Anyway... I used Crumbcake card for the base, layered up with Soft Suede and the now retired Sale-a-bration designer series paper. I cut a Spellbinders Oval out, and sponged it with Pool Party and a touch of Soft Suede ink then focused on this beautiful stamp from Some Odd Girl. I stamped her once on to watercolour paper and once on to patterned paper. On the patterned paper, I cut out just her dress and top and added shading using the Stampin' Write Marker that matched the paper. I then coloured her skin, hair, eyes and lips. I cut her out, and felt she needed the crown, so I stamped it using Versamark and heat embossed it using Gold Zing embossing powder. Her crown is only outlined, and it didn't have quite the oomph I wanted, so with my Versamarker and coloured the crown in completely and re-heat embossed it using more Gold Zing. (Oomph achieved!) I stamped the sentiment "You deserve the Royal treatment" and added some red bling to it and her crown.
I am entering this card into the Stampalot monthly challenge which my wonderful friend Annmaree told me about. Their challenge this month is Medals or Monarchs

Have a wonderful day!

New Challenge Blog and My DT Sample Card! Gorjuss Bird on the Wire

I mentioned a week or two ago about being approached to help run a new challenge blog, Feeling Sketchy, of course I said yes, and this morning, at 6am, the first challenge was launched! Here is my card -

This card is fairly basic, but I think it packs quite a punch :) It is a Early Espresso card base, layered with some retired Stampin' Up! designer paper, I then layered a piece of Soft Suede which I had stamped with the Woodgrain background stamp, and wrapped some Rose Red Seam Binding Ribbon around, and tied a bow. The main image is Bird on the Wire, from Gorjuss and was coloured using my Stampin' Write Markers. 

So, here's this weeks sketch, 

If you want to play along, head on over to the blog and link up your creation, every entry goes in the draw for our monthly giveaway, which is sponsered this month by The Stamp Spot.

Sale-a-bration Everyday Enchantment and I create Valentines Day Cards

Ok, so Sale-a-bration is just under an hour away (excited?) And I wanted to share one more sneak peek before it goes live! Check back after midnight Australian EST to have a gander at the range of products you can get for FREE! I have used the beautiful new Designer Series Paper- Everyday Enchantment on both these cards...

This one uses some of my favourite things! It features a soft colour palette, watercolouring, tone on tone stamping, seam binding ribbon, and of course pretty patterned paper *swoon* I took my colours for the adorable The Greeting Farm girl from the patterned papers, and then built the card around her. I did quite a bit of sponging on this card, and tied a bow from the Rose Red Seam Binding Ribbon. Love the co-ordination! 

This card is fairly basic with a big wow factore. I have used stamps from Vintage Vogue and French Foliage on the bold coloured pieces, and sponged the edges. The sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo (I believe) and makes me smile every time. I really wanted to make the patterned paper the star of this card, as the pattern is oh so pretty! I'm loving this colour combo too, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla.

Thanks for dropping around, come back in a little while to see the Sale-a-bration catalogue, with the goodies you can receive Free after a $100 purchase!

Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration Sneak Peek Everyday Enchantments and Friendly Phrases

Hi guys! I have a couple of cute projects to share with you today. First up is a desk calendar

And, there is a matching card! This is super unlike me, I don't usually make anything so matchy matchy...

So, these are made with the same "ingredients", Poppy Parade card bases, Everyday Enchantments Designer Series Paper (A sneak peek at Sale-a-bration 2012!), Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon, Beautiful Wings Embossolits and the stamp set I used is Friendly Phrases. The designer series paper is absolutely to die for! I looked at it in the Sale-a-bration catalogue, and I didn't particularly like it, the colours seemed a bit weird together, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Peach Parfait, Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla and Soft Suede. But, when I saw it in real life, it exceeded my expectations!

So, how do you get the Everyday Enchantments Designer Series Paper? Well, just spend $100 between the 24th January 2012 - 31st March 2012, and you can receive it for free! It is limited release, so once Sale-a-bration is over, it's gone for good! So, get out your wishlists, and let me know if there is anything I can help you with!

Stampin' Up! The Open Sea and I create a Masculine Birthday Card

Hi again! I promised I'd be back to show a scrap page, I do have one ready made and right to post, just I wanted to share this card first :)

This is a fairly basic card, with a card base made out of Soft Suede, layered with some Not Quite Navy, which I ran through the Big Shot with the Stripes embossing folder. Once it was embossed, I scuffed it up a bit using the Distressing Essentials kit and then sponged the edges in Not Quite Navy. I punched some tiny holes into the Not Quite Navy piece and put some tiny little silver brads through, then I tied some Vanilla Seam Binding around it and finished with a bow. The image panel is a piece of Very Vanilla, stamped in Crumbcake, Soft Suede and Not Quite Navy, using The Open Sea stamp set. The sentiment is from Upsy Daisy, I really like the sentiments in this set because they aren't overly ornate or fussy, perfect for masculine cards :)

My favourite recipe for a masculine card comes from my wonderful upline Linda Higgins I took this from her blog - 

There is a belief out there that cards for men are tricky to do. Actually I think that if you have the right stamp set, and the right colours, then it becomes relatively easy. Add some twine for texture, or some metal for strength.... and the job becomes even easier. 

I find her words to be especially true with The Open Sea stamp set, it comes together so easily!

I am entering this into two challenges, the first is the sketch challenge over at Stamping 411, I'm also entering this in the Moxie Fab World Maps challenge, and the Simon Says Stamp Spots or Stripes challenge

Thanks for stopping by!

Stampin' Up! The Open Sea (Summer Mini Release) and I create a masculine Card

Hi guys! I have another card to share today, one that uses a stamp set from the newest Summer Mini catalogue, it is the first time I have actually inked up this stamp!

I used a Crumbcake base, which I layered with some lace dyed using a Soft Suede ink refill. The main image is Vanilla card stock, and it has been distressed, and stamped using Crumbcake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso, using The Open Sea stamp set. I have layered it on some distressed Soft Suede. The sentiment is from Grunge Rock, which is a great masculine set. 

I am playing along with Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday challenge, and the Do You Stack Up, something old challenge.

Thanks for dropping round,

Happy Stamping!

Stampin' Up! Grunge Rock and Extreme Elements make Masculine cards Easy!

Ok, so usually I'm not a morning person, but I had to be up and about quite early this morning, which meant I had to have a lot of caffeine to stay awake... So, after arriving home from my appointment this morning, I headed into the craft room!

This is a More Mustard card base, layered with Soft Suede, which has been run through the Big Shot using the Stripes embossing folder (neat huh?) I sponged the edges and then focused on my image panel. This lil guy is from The Greeting Farm, and he has been coloured using my Stampin' Write Markers and a Blender Pen. I then cut him out, and on my Vanilla piece, I stamped the 'splat' from Extreme Elements in More Mustard and the spots from the same set in Not Quite Navy, before stamping them on this piece of card, I stamped them once on a piece of scrap copy paper, as I didn't want the colours too bold. I then stamped the sentiment from Grunge Rock in Chocolate Chip over the top, I also sponged the edges with Soft Suede ink to make it look distressed. The three strips behind the main image panel are made up of a piece of new Denim Ribbon from Stampin' Up! a Faux Metal piece (see below for info) and a piece of yellow and white twine. 

The Faux Metal piece is super easy to do... Just cover a piece of card in VersaMark ink, I just applied the ink pad directly to the card, then sprinkled silver embossing powder over the top. Once it was heat set, I repeated the process again, and while it was still warm popped the diamond pattern from Grunge Rock into it to 'deboss' it. 

I am entering this card into two challenges, the first is the Simply Stampin' Challenge, which is a sketch this week, and also the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger, I took a bit of artistic license on this one, and just went with the colours :) 

Thanks for dropping by!

Don't forget my Blog Candy that ends this Thursday!

Stampin' Up! French Foliage and I make a Autumn Thank You Card

Hi! I have created a card with inspiration taken from one of my favourite bloggers, Dawn Olchefske, she has created a wonderful Thanksgiving card using French Foliage, so I have cased her idea, and made an Autumn Thank You card (as we don't do Thanksgiving here in Australia)

The colours I have used are More Mustard, Soft Suede and Early Espresso. The leaves have been stamped using the Rock and Roll technique, inked up first in More Mustard than the edges rolled in Soft Suede. I have stamped the splatter in Soft Suede to make 'baubles' and the sentiment is from a retired set, Artfully Asian and has been stamped in Early Espresso. The patterned paper is from a retired set also, but I can't think what it was called...

I am entering this into three challenges, the first us the There She Goes theme challenge of Autumn, secondly the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger, and finally, the Wee Memories free for all challenge

Thanks for dropping by!

Don't forget my Blog Candy!

Stampin' Up!'s newest In Colour Island Indigo is Divine!

Hi Guys, I have had a really bad week mojo wise, nothing is appealing to me, at all! I think it is because I've not been feeling 100% and that I've been really busy... Tonight, I needed to get into the craft room and create, I was going stir crazy! Here is the fairly clean and simple card I came up with

The image is from The Greeting Farm, I've had this little guys head coloured in for a few days, just nowhere to put him.. I coloured him using my Stampin' Write Markers and a blender pen. I stamped his body onto a piece of white and also two patterned papers from My Minds Eye, cut them out, and layered them on to the stamped image. The sentiment is from Just Believe, and has also been stamped using my Stampin' Write Marker, I selectively coloured the For You, and left the Just off this one. I layered the image panel onto Crumbcake, and mounted it on dimensionals to an Island Indigo card base. I threaded some retired Kiwi Kiss ribbon underneath the image and tied a bow. 

I am entering this into three challenges, the first is a new one for me, the OWH Stars and Stamp Sketch challenge, which was surprisingly very similar to The Paper Players Sketch. I am also entering this into The Pink Elephant paper piecing challenge.

Thanks for dropping by, 

Don't forget, that the new catalogue is launched very soon (Thursday) so, pop back then and have a looksee!

Stampin' Up! Tree Trimmings and I create a Christmas Card

Hi guys, I've almost finished my assignment, just one part to go! :) Yay! So, this afternoon, I made a matching card for the star album I made during the week...

It's a Soft Suede card base layered with the almost retired Newsprint DSP which I sponged with Crumbcake. I layered a piece of scallop border punch in Cherry Cobbler then stamped the three ornaments from Tree Trimmings on a separate piece of Vanilla card. I stamped each of the ornaments in Crumbcake, Soft Suede and Cherry Cobbler, I then went over them with my Versamarker and clear embossed them for some shininess. I stamped the sentiment, which is from Snow Swirled and used my Modern Label punch. To finish off this card, I used my Early Espresso Marker to draw some strings, and a double border. 

I am entering this into the Stamping 411 Sketch challenge...

Oh, and here is a pic of the card with the matching Star Album!

Thanks for dropping by!

Stampin' Up! Snow Swirled, Tree Trimmings, Dasher and Contempo Christmas create a Vintage Star Album

Hi Guys, I should warn you all now, this is going to be a picture heavy post.... I have created a Christmas mini star album for an international holidays swap... luckily, I only had to make one!

So, this is the front, I used a piece of backing card you get when you order a pack of designer series papers. The album size is 4 inches square. I have covered the backing card using the Newsprint DSP, and inked the edges using Crumbcake. I stamped Dasher is Soft Suede on Very Vanilla, and mounted it on Suede. I added a rhinestone for his nose. The ribbon is non-Stampin' Up! and is almost a perfect match for Cherry Cobbler.

This is just to show you a different angle, the pages are Cherry Cobbler, followed by Soft Suede and Very Vanilla... Now the insides:

I sponged all the Vanilla pieces with Crumbcake, and purposefully left some of the pages blank, so my swap sister can insert photos, or journalling.

 

Other pages, like these ones, I filled with a Christmas quote or picture that I thought was really nice

 

This page, (below) is  probably my favourite...

 

 

Sorry about my fingers in these, the pages wouldn't sit open by themselves... 

 

 

I used only 5 stamp sets and 4 colours to create this entire album, Dasher, Snow Swirled, Contempo Christmas, Tree Trimmings and a Hero Arts stamp I don't remember the name of... The colours are Soft Suede, Crumbcake, Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla. Here is a look at the album open, with all the pages showing.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping

Stampin' Up! Newsprint DSP and Sail Away for a Bon Voyage Card

I'm sad to see one of my favourite designer series papers are on the retiring list (which has things disappearing off of it quickly!) so, I know I had to have another play with it before it is gone forever...

Ok, so this card is a Crumbcake base layered with the map images from the Newsprint patterned paper which has been sponged with Soft Suede and Early Espresso. I have run a piece of Crumbcake through the Big Shot with the perfect polka dot embossing folder and sponged some Soft Suede over the top to show off the dots. Before mounting it to the card, I sewed on some buttons and attached some string looped round them and three 'banners' using Early Espresso I then mounted it, and my computer generated sentiment on to the base. I stamped the yacht from Sail Away (retired) on Vanilla and sponged it with Soft Suede, then with my scallop border punch, I made a scallop edging for the main image. 

I am entering this into two challenges, the first is the Lollipop Ladies Biscotti Inspiration which also had the spin of texture, and also in to the Mojo Monday Sketch. 

Ok, well I have another post to write and schedule for tomorrow. So, I better go. If there is anything on the Retiring list that you don't want to miss out on, get in quick and call through or email me your order, because once it is gone, it is gone for good. 

Stampin' Up! Water Colour Paper makes the difference in Water Colouring!

I have recently discovered how big a difference colouring with your Stampin' Write Markers is when colouring on Stampin' Up!'s Water Colour Paper. To be honest, I was hesitant in spending the extra money on the paper, but I got it as part of the hostess benefits from Stamp Club last month... I can't believe how simple it makes colouring, how effortless it is to get the colours blending and looking like other high end markers... So, I've been on a bit of a colouring kick... Here is my card for today...

Once again, I have used an image from The Greeting Farm, which has been embossed using black embossing powder and coloured using my Stampin' Write Markers and a Blender Pen. Her hair is Soft Suede and Early Espresso, her skin is Blush Blossom with touches of Pretty in Pink, her shirt is Certainly Celery and her pants are Crumbcake. The card base is Confetti White with a piece of patterned paper which was a bit too bright, so I have layered some Vellum over the top. A piece of Pretty in Pink cut into a flag shape and run through the Big Shot with the Polka Dots embossing folder and a piece of Crumbcake which has been punched using the eyelet border punch. I have used the Tag Punch and the Tiny Tags stamp set to finish off this card with a sentiment and three little pinkish pearls. 

I am entering this into two challenges... The first is The Lollipop Ladies challenge, which is the Princess cake inspiration (below) and the twist which is to use pearls, the second challenge is The Sweetest Thing Sunday Sketch. (below)

Anyway, Mark is in the craft room, fixing the broken window for me, so I can go back into the warmth and create some more, 

Until next time...

Happy Stamping!