Recycling Sketch

It is nice to have the pressure off, life is getting back to normal which also means that I have more time to create. I am finding that my mojo is definitely back, I look at challenges now and ideas just pop into my head where I had been struggling before, it is so nice.

This week's Friday Mash Up challenge was

1. Make a project with the sketch
2. Make a project using recycled or re-purposed materials or supplies
3. or Mash It Up and create a project using the sketch and recycled or re-purposed materials or supplies

I chose to mash it up, and used mostly retired items from Stampin' Up!, I can't bear to part with them but really don't often use them as I use current products on my projects.  Can you spot the one thing on my card that is current?  The butterfly and flourish are from the Sale-A-Bration set Bliss, the DSP are from a retired set I can't remember the name of, and the brads are Square Ice brads, such a shame these are no longer current, they are so pretty.  Which of course leaves the sentiment as the only current item, it's from the Elements of Style stamp set.

Happy Stamping

Spooky PLG Challenge

We don't really celebrate Halloween here in Australia, so my stamp sets for that holiday are just non-existent. I didn't let that stop me again this week when I saw the cool photo supplied by the DT at Paper Lovin' Gals.  How great does this look?  I knew straight away I wanted to get out my brayer for this one, but wasn't sure what I had in mind would work.  So a number of trials later this is what I created.

I know it looks a bit plain and not overly exciting but it is a luminaire, so you don't really see the true effect until you turn out the lights ...

I found a picture of the haunted house on the internet, and traced and then very carefully cut out the little bits and pieces to let the light through.  I realised after I had finished that I should have cut it out of Basic Black, not Pumpkin Pie, but by then it was all put together and I couldn't face more carving (it was also about midnight lol). So out with the Stampin' Write Marker and some careful colouring in.  I put the little had cut bat behind the vellum so that it would be a bit blurred with the light behind, to give an effect of movement.  The vellum behind the house has be brayered in Tangerine Tango so that it gets that lovely orange glow.

I really enjoyed making this, and I just know my teenage daughter is going to love it when she sees it all lit up in her room tonight!

I am also going to be entering this project in the Stampin' Royalty "Spooky/Creepy/Halloween" themed challenge.

Happy Stamping

Secret Sister Swap - September Cards

As promised here are two of the cards my ESAD Secret Sister has sent me in September. I have been meaning to post pictures of these for some time now, but better late than never!

This is the first card I received, I love the technique my SS has used here, initially stamping onto the Certainly Celery card-stock and embossing it with white embossing powder, and then stamping the same image onto the white card stock in Certainly Celery and embossing it with clear.  This could also be done using the new coloured embossing powders.  

 This is another card from my SS, and I love the attention to detail on this one.  Notice how the embossed image on the pink panel is lined up with the embossing on the back panel?  The colours on this remind me of Neapolitan Ice-cream, and my SS can't have known that my favourite flavour is the strawberry one, and that is the main colour on this card too!  I love the ruffled ribbon feature and stamped images.

I am feeling very spoiled at the moment!


Happy Stamping

Secret Sister Swap - September Gift

Here is another great Secret Sister gift I received from my ESAD (Extra Special Australiasinan Stampin' Up Demonstrators), now this swap goes for 3 months so I don't know who my SS is just yet.  All I know is that she comes from New Zealand!

Aren't these cute? I love this little set, there is a small pack of tissues, a mini hand sanitiser, a post-it note and pen set, and at the front on the right is a cute little match book with emery boards in it!  I just love these, and love the way they all match and that my lovely SS has coloured the Organza Ribbon to match the card-stock.  I love the Vintage Vogue flowers and Antique Brads she has used to decorate each item.

My SS has also sent me some lovely cards and I will be posting those up over the next week or so.  When I find out who she is I will share that with you.

Happy Stamping

Secret Sister Swap - Crafters Anonymous

Today I want to share the first of my Secret Sister gifts.  A Secret Sister Swap is one in which you make a card and/or gift for someone but they have no idea who you are until the end of the swap.  Some are done over three months and some are just a one item swap.  I am currently in 2 such swaps, one through Crafters Anonymous and one with a group of fellow demonstrators at Extra Special Australasian Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, and I will be sharing all my 'happy mail' with you.

These are from my Secret Sister in the Crafter's Anonymous swap, aren't they beautiful?  The little box on at the back has a beautiful scented candle in it the fragrance is Orchidberry, and is a similar colour to Rich Razzleberry so now I will always think of this scent when I see that colour!  The item at the back right is a covered 2012 calendar, a month to a page, so great to have in your handbag to keep track of special dates.  The two flowers are actually two magnet clips with the beautiful die-cut flowers adhered to the front.  Can you see the little glimmer brad in the centre of each flower? Aren't they so cute, I just have to own some now!

This was a one off swap, and so I now know who my SS was. It was the lovely Steph who is one of my on-line stamping buddies.  It was extra special to find out that it was made by a cyber friend!  I love the colours Steph has used, so soft and pretty.  

Happy Stamping

Pals Paper Christmas

Don't you just love it when you see a sketch and immediately know what you want to do, grab the supplies, and within 15 minutes have completed the card???  It happens so very rarely but tonight as soon as I saw this sketch from Pals Paper Arts it all just fell into place.

I haven't used my Seasons of Joy stamp set in a while but after dusting it off it made the perfect centre feature to this Christmas card.

I inked up the image using Cherry Cobbler, and then using a cotton bud wiped off the ink on the tree, star and snowflake, then coloured them in using Garden Green, Daffodil Delight and Marina Mist.  The addition of some sponging, mini pearls, and a touch of embossing on the Cherry Cobbler layer were the finishing touches.  

Don't forget to pop over to Pals Paper Arts and check out the other great cards.

Happy Stamping

Butterflies Inspired by Pumpkins!

Isn't this a great photo!  Over at Paper Lovin' Gals this is the inspriational photo for this week's project. Now I have to say I struggled a bit with this as I use pumpkins more for soup than I do for Halloween!  But I was determined to join in again this week and so started to think about which elements of the card I would use to inspire me.   I decided I really loved the colours and the layout of the images, but not so much the pumpkins.

So I swapped out the pumpkins and made them into a flight of butterflies, the elegant lines embossing folder reminds me of the twisting vines of the pumpkins and gave the card the texture it needed.  I used Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango and More Mustard as my three colours for the butterflies. The sentiment from Cottage Garden fit so well in the frame and with the vine twisting through it seemed perfect for this card.

I am again using my entry into the challenge as an application to be on the Design Team at Paper Lovin' Gals, and while I am not as happy with it as I was with the vase of pink flowers card I do like my interpretation on the photo.

Happy Stamping

PLG Challenge Winner!

I am super excited right now because my card was chosen as the challenge winner this week for the Paper Lovin' Gals.  It was great to be chosen, particularly this week as it was their very first challenge!  Here is another look at the winning card ...

I was in some great company with Linda from The Stamper's Touch and Karen from Karen's Crafty Creations as the runners up this week.  Pop over and check out their lovely creations.

I have just completed my card for the next challenge so please pop back tomorrow after I have had a chance to post a picture.

Happy Stamping

Oops I Did It Again ...

I might not be a Britney Spears fan but that song came to mind with this card.  What did I do again?  I made another card with the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge sketch, it wasn't really a mistake, I woke up this morning and just knew I had to create a bright fun card with the now retired Ice Cream Parlor ribbons and buttons!

I usually don't do bright cards, but I do love seeing bright cards.  I am really happy with the way this card has turned out, the Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo are so bright and cheery, just perfect for a cheery birthday card don't you think?  I used the Cup Cake Punch and ran the 'icing' through the elegant lines embossing folder and sponged some Melon Mambo over it to give some swirls in the icing.  The cupcake is finished off by a cute little cherry and layered onto a star-burst punched out of the Fancy Flower Punch that I re- punched slightly off-set.

I posted a picture of this card and then started thinking maybe it could do with 'a little more', more what I wasn't sure, but I thought the Daffodil Delight was a bit plain, bright but plain.  I wanted to add something to it to give it some texture, I then remembered that in the Short and Sweet stamp set there is a cute little itsy bitsy cupcake, how perfect to stamp in both VersaMark and Daffodil Delight to make two shades of colour.  I then added some sponging to the edges of the card - I love sponging.

Hope you like this entry into the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge, I am off to do some washing then back for some more creativity.

Happy Stamping

Freshly Made Sketches

I had a bit of inspiration this evening as I was flicking through the blogs I am following when I found the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge with this layout ...

I have been looking at this new challenge blog lately and just haven't had the time to participate, but life has settled a little so I wanted to join in.

I had made up the stamped background a while ago and thought that it would be great for this card, as I could just see the doilies and snowflakes working together with the elements of the sketch.  I am so loving the colour combo of Pool Party, Concord Crush and Wisteria Wonder together, and although you can't see it easily the doilies have been stamped onto shimmer white card stock which gives them an added frosty feel.  I just had to add a couple of rhinestones to help bling it up.

I have a bit of time on my hands the next few days, so you can expect a few more creations from me, as well as some pictures over the next week or so of the lovely gifts I have received as part of Secret Sister Swaps.

Happy Stamping

Paper Lovin' Gals

Knowing how I love my challenge blogs, imagine my excitement when I found out that there was a new one about to start up!  I found the link on my lovely friend Kasey's blog and was even more excited when I found out they are still looking for a few more Design Team members!  The challenge was to create a project taking inspiration from this picture ...

I quite like these types of challenges, they allow for lots of variation, you can take the colours, the layout, the theme, or anything really that inspires you.

I was inspired by the colours and by the lovely bright pink flowers.  I just knew I wanted to use my new Triple Layer Flower Punch for this one, and what better than yellow and orange brads to give them cute little centre.  I mixed it up a bit and used the blue of the jug as the inspiration for my Baja Blue background card and dsp, and the orange from the wall for my vase.  I made the vase out of the Ornament Punch with the bottom cut off and stamped with a small flourish from Tiny Tags stamp set.  Then it was simply layering the flowers in Rose Red and Melon Mambo.

I hope you like my creation, and entry into the design team, and are inspired to join in with this new challenge blog.  Pop over to Paper Lovin' Gals (don't you just love the name) and join in, or at the very least see what everyone else has created with this lively picture as inspiration.

Happy Stamping

Back In the Groove

2 days and 2 posts ... I am back in the swing of creativity!!  This time my inspiration came from Sketch Frenzy Friday, Just Add Ink and The Color Throwdown.  I didn't have any Barely Banana or Creamy Caramel so used So Saffron and Crumb Cake instead.  

Initially when I saw JAI challenge to Just Add a Die Cut I skipped over it, however when I was thinking about this card and had decided on the stamp I would use my new Scribbles Swirls die came to mind.  This is such a versatile little die, great for adding a swirl or splash to any number of projects, in this one I have used a mix of Crystal Effects with Dazzling Diamonds to give it that extra watery look.  The stamp set Sunny Fun is so cute, and in these muted colours reminds me of an old photo!

Stamp: Sunny Fun
Colours: Pool Party, So Saffron, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Other: Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds, Scribbles Swirls Sizzlits Die, Aqua Painter

Happy Stamping

Trick or Treat

For the last two weeks I have been working with a different team and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them, and getting to know them all.  Next week it is back to my usual job, and back to part time work, which will leave more time for crafting!  Tonight I decided to have a look at my fav challenge blogs, with the thought of planning a card to make tomorrow, that was until I came across The Friday Mashup and was totally inspired by this week's challenge.  This week was a colour and theme challenge, and I decided to do both, creating a Halloween themed card using Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade and Concord Crush.

Now in Australia we don't really celebrate Halloween, certainly not to the extent that it is celebrated in the US or UK, this is reflected in the limited Halloween products in our IB&C. However I did not want to let that get me down, and I think it was the little owl in the Warmest Wishes set that FMU are giving away this week. 

I used the owl punch and added some bat wings to give him more of a Halloween look, and a little green vest to match the new Lucky Limeade ruffle ribbon on the card.  I decided to use my new Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch (boy that is a mouthful!!) and used two strips of it under the ruffle ribbon, I think the two of them go very well together. Can you spot the little bit of extra ruffled ribbon I have used to framed the Concord Crush circle? I cut a piece of ribbon in half lengthwise and then attached it to the back of the circle using SNAIL.

I did learn an important lesson on this card ... Use your black glitter before you add the letters to a multi-layered, embossed card! Boy does that stuff get everywhere!

Stamps: none!
Paper: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade, Concord Crush and Naturals Ivory; Lucky Limeade DSP Stack
Other: 2-step Owl Punch, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet die, black super fine glitter.


Happy Stamping

Touching Base

Hi All, I just wanted to let you know that I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth, I have just been super busy with work the last month.  I have done a little bit of crafting but can't show you because the things I have made are for two lovely ladies who are part of Secret Sister rounds.  So the things I have made have to stay secret until the lovely ladies in question receive their gifts!

I will be able to post up some pictures of the lovely things that I have been sent this month, and will do that over the weekend.  Life has slowed down a bit too and I will get back to participating in a few challenges I hope.

Happy Stamping