Better Late Than Never

Isn't it funny when something just clicks in your head.  That is what happened to me when I saw the colour challenge at Colour Throwdown and the sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  I knew what stamp set I wanted and how I wanted to do it, now these thoughts came to me a few days ago and it is only tonight right at the end of the weekend that I got to sit down and actually put them to paper.      

Here is my card, I knew these colours would go great together all mashed in together so I made the back ground with Extreme Elements, and then used Grunge Rock for the guitar and sentiment.  I purposefully stamped the Happy Birthday as two separate words and was aiming for them to look a bit more off centre and at an angle to each other, but happy with how they turned out.  If I had a teen in mind for this card I would add some die cut numbers in Cherry Cobbler or Night of Navy to the background rectangle.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stamping

Tulips in Spring

Another week behind us and another challenge at Paper Lovin' Gals.  Isn't this picture just beautiful?  I have always loved tulips, I am not sure if it had anything to do with growing up in a part of Australia where they just didn't grow, so they were extra special.  Luckily now I live in a part of the country where they grow beautifully, and every year Canberra puts on Floriade, an amazing spectacular of flowers, a lot of them tulips.  Writing this post I realise I could have easily done a scrap page with some of the many photos I have from my yearly trip to Floriade.  But instead I chose to make a card, and a card that doesn't have tulips! I just wanted to use the general flower theme from this week's picture and capture the soft yellow of the flowers in the background.    What about this picture inspires you?  Come and join in this week with a creation inspired by the photo.

When I see tulips I think of spring, so I am also entering this card in the Hand Stamped Sentiments "spring" challenge.  It is hard to think about spring at the moment, as in this part of the world we are in autumn, with leave falling off trees and the weather getting all cold.  I chose the Bordering on Romance flower for the stamped image, however I did trim part of the flower so it would fit more neatly in my framelits die.  The DSP is also from our Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue and is called Attic Boutique, it has some lovely soft prints.

Happy Stamping

Welcome Baby

Last week one of the ladies from work had her baby!  Welcome to the world little Maeve, who by all reports is a sweet little girl who is very well behaved and doesn't mind being handed around for lots of cuddles.  I decided to make a card for the team to sign to send out good wishes, I started out with the sketch at Pals Paper Arts.

I was particularly inspired by Cindy Halls card.  I really, really love the Twitterpated DSP, and who could resist using a little bunny.  I dressed young Thumper in pink for this card and gave 'her' a little pink flower instead of the Easter Egg that is part of this stamp.  I used the Organza ribbon over a piece of Melon Mambo card stock punched each side with the Scallop Border Punch to match the scallop circle from the Pennant Parade die.

Happy Stamping

Sharing the Love

I would like to thank two lovely ladies for giving me a Leibster Blog award.  Genelle and Kylie both recently (or semi recently) chose my blog as one that inspires them.  A Leibster Award is a "share the love" arrangement, given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers.  As part of receiving this award I have to name 5 blogs that inspire me and that I would like to share the award with, that is all part of share the love!  So without further ado let me introduce you to Kasey, Alison, Sharon, Andrea and ... Andrea!

Kasey @ Paisley Wings & Crafty Things

I 'blame' Kasey for my current paper-craft addiction, I was on the wagon until she showed me the wonderful products Stampin' Up! have to offer and I immediately fell off said wagon and joined up.  Along with the somewhat reduced bank balance I have a lot more life balance, and as I tell my hubby - I would spend way more on psycho-therapy than I do on paper-therapy!

Alison @ Gothdove Designs

I often visit Alison's blog, and see her wonderful creativity on some on-line groups I belong to but it wasn't until I went to find her blog that I realised I wasn't a follower!!!  Not sure how this happened but I have fixed that problem.  Alison has such a lovely style, both in her cards and in personality (if reading her posts are anything to go by). I hope one day we get to meet in person.

Sharon @ Shari-Anne Happy Crafter

Don't you just love Sharon's blog name?  Sharon and I met on-line after she left a comment on my blog.  I sent her an email reply and discovered she lives in the area of England where my mum grew up.  So lovely getting to know someone from so far away that has, even if only a small one, a geographical connection.  

Andrea @ EnchantINK

Andrea is a beautiful lady with beautiful creations!  I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Andrea in person but I have it on good authority that she is a lovely lady.  I have followed her blog for ages and just love her creativity and sense of style.  Thanks for the continual inspiration and the lovely comments you leave on my blog.

Andrea @ Creating Cards With Andrea

My second Andrea I have met in persona and she is such a lovely lady, so sad she won't be coming over to Convention this year :(   I love the styling on Andrea's cards, such simple elegance.

Thank you all for the inspiration you provide me.

To my blog visitors - please take the time to pop on over and visit these ladies and see their wonderful creations, if you can, leave a little message here and there to let them know you have visited; and if you like their work as much as I do then follow their blogs so you can keep up to date with their creations.

Happy Stamping

Catch Up!

I have been so busy lately, with full time work and a computer that fried it's hard drive, that I haven't had time to let you all know that I have received some awards lately for cards that I have entered into challenges. 

I was chosen as the "Ray of Sunshine" (what a great title) for my card in the recent sketch challenge at Sunny Challenges.  

My non-traditional Christmas colours card was chosen by the lovely Nicole at Festive Friday Challenges.

Kasey and the team at The Friday Mashup chose this card I made in a tic tac toe and fancy fold challenge as the top pick of the week.  It was my first attempt at a telescoping card so I was really happy that it worked!

I think Nicole must like Everybunny because she chose two of my cards during the Easter festivities - I have to agree these were my two favourite Easter cards - I hope Everybunny hops into next year's catalogue!

I would like to give a big THANK YOU to the teams at these challenge blogs for the awards. It is such a special feeling to be chosen as one of the top picks of the week.  I love participating in challenges, they are a great way to provide a starting point for creativity and can spark ideas when my mind is otherwise blank.

Happy Stamping

Sunsets

I am not sure why but it always surprises me when it is time to post up another creation for Paper Lovin' Gals, weeks go so fast these days.  I just love the photo this week, such soft colours and a relaxed feel about this picture.  You can use any part of it to inspire your creation, what will you pick ... colours, layout, theme, just one element?  It doesn't matter, let your creativity run wild and come and join in.

When  I saw the colours in the sky I just knew I wanted to get out my brayer, now I don't do much (any at all really) brayering, I love the effects but am often in a rush and find it time consuming lol!  But for this card I really wanted to play with layering the colours onto the card stock to try and match some of the colours in the picture.  I was so super happy with how it turned out, but I have to share that the bottom bit was sort of a mistake - I used black ink on the bottom and realised it would all be too dark, so I started to run the brayer over the card at more random angles, and was happy to see it gives the impression of hills in the distance!

I hope you like my creation and pop over to the Paper Lovin' Gals blog to see what the other Design Team members have made to inspire you this week. 

Happy Stamping

More Festivities

It is a big week this week, the list of stamp sets that are retiring out of the US Idea Book & Catalogue was released a couple of days ago, and wow what a list it was.  Here on the other side of the world in Australia we have our own retirement list but are always eager to see what is staying and what is going from the US, and lots of guessing happens around this time - a bit like guessing what is in packages at Christmas time!  What a great lead in to the reason for this post  ....

                     

I have been enjoying making Christmas cards recently, and enjoying using both traditional and non-traditional colours. My card this time around is being entered into Merry Monday, and Creating with Connie & Mary as the non-traditional colours!

When deciding what to do with this card I decided I wanted to try something a little bit different, so I used the lovely Velvet ribbon to make the stripes on the card backing, with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder it really makes me think of the old wallpaper.  I quite like these colours for Christmas, and am going to miss this stamp set if it retires here in Australia like it is going to in US.

Happy Stamping

Back to Tradition!

Since putting up my last post I have made another card, this time with more traditional colours!  I was just flicking through my Google Reader and found Merry Monday challenge, and was immediately inspired to get back to traditional colours for Christmas!  

I knew I wanted to use the new Framelits as my main shape instead of the circle, so I grabbed my Christmas DSP and knew immediately I wanted to use the Santa image with a background of the merry phrases.  I chose Cherry Cobbler and Lucky Limeade as the main Christmassy colours and am really happy with how quickly I produced this card and how much I like it.  

I learned two things about my style while making this card which I will share with you.  Firstly I tend not to use sentiments on a card, and secondly I forget to reach for my textured embossing folders.  Once this card was finished I looked at it and that was when I thought the Lucky Limeade layer would have looked great with either polka dots or vintage wallpaper embossing - Doh, going to have to keep that in mind for next time.

Happy Stamping

Non-Traditional Christmas

Last week I joined in with Festive Friday challenge and used what I considered to be non-traditional colours for a Christmas card, and was really happy with the end result.  Yesterday I made a card for this week's sketch challenge at Festive Friday and decided to carry on the idea of non-traditional colours - though I am not 100% sure I have hit the mark.  Let me know what you think in your comments, I am open to honest feedback on this one.

I haven't used this stamp set in ages, I just loved it when I first bought it.  I guess using Pedal Presents earlier had me thinking of this set too because you can put all sorts of things in the back of the truck. I stamped in StazOn onto water colour paper and then used my blender pens to colour the image.  The tree I inked up with my Stampin' Write markers straight onto the stamp so I could colour the trunk and branches different colours.  I used the stamping off technique to repeat the trees on the background.  You can't see it well in the photo but I used my blender pen on the windscreen and side window as well as the hubcaps.  Lesson learned that the sparkle takes for ever to leave your Blender pen, so now I have a "gold" and "silver" tag on each end of one of my pens!

Happy Stamping

Three in One

Good news is ... my computer is back up and running again; Bad news is ... I have lost all my bookmarks, and only have an old version of Windows so I am unable to use my usual photo editing software.  But luckily it doesn't stop me making cards!

Today I have made a card to enter into three challenges
Just Add Ink ... Inspirational Picture
Crazy 4 Challenges ... Buttons
Sunny Challenges ... Sketch Challenge

I just love the colours, Calypso Coral and Pool Party for the main colours, I have also added the striped DSP as the rugs in the picture has a lovely stripe through it.  The stamp set is Pedal Presents, the new exclusive Hostess stamp set in the Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue.  The push bike is the main stamp in the set, and is accompanied by five little stamps that will all 'fit' in the basket, here I have used the flowers, but there are also hearts, presents, a birthday cake, and the cutest little bird, as well as a bunch of balloons (I have used them on another card that I will be posting in the near future).  I have added some of the Itty Bitty Buttons to the panel on the left, I love these because they are clear and you can add whatever colour you like behind them with the matching punch set.

Happy Stamping

Bunting in the Breeze

 Aren't these pretty little lines of bunting?  They remind me of a tea party or some other girly event. It will be interesting to see what the Design Team Members come up with this week with this inspirational photo. I would love it if you joined in by choosing something that inspires you and making a card or 3D project using the picture as your inspiration.

As I said it was the idea of bunting that took my interest, and I wanted to see how to re-create this.  I punched circles using the 3/4" Circle Punch, folded them in half over a piece of Bakers Twine which I wrapped around the back of the card.  All of the circles are punched from Twitterpated DSP, new in the Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue, I am loving this DSP, so versatile.  Along the bottom of the card I have used the edge stamp from Vintage Vogue, stamped numerous times before re-inking to give the different intensity of colours, the sentiment is from Heard From the Heart.

Don't forget to visit the Paper Lovin' Gals blog to see what the other Design Team members have created this week, and join in with us.

Happy Stamping

Christmas at Easter

Let me start by saying Happy Easter to all my blog visitors.

In a small twist of seasons I have made a card to enter into two challenges, Freshly Made Sketches and Festive Friday Challenge.

It did feel a bit odd making a Christmas card on the Easter weekend, but having made so many Easter projects in the lead up to now, it does make a nice change.  I love finding different colours for Christmas, not just traditional reds and greens, and this week's Festive Friday Challenge gave me just that.  Don't these colours look great together? I couldn't help adding a bit of bling with rhinestones and glimmer paper.

Happy Stamping

Back at the Mash Up

It has been a while since I joined in with the Friday Mashup challenge, but with a 4 day weekend upon us I have time to do some creating and challenges.  

As you know I love doing the mashed up version of the challenge and this week is no different, thought it was a challenge as part of it was a tic tac toe challenge (pick any three elements that line up in a row from the grid), the second part of the challenge was a fancy fold card.

I chose to use neutrals, ribbons and flowers - which was a challenge as I so desperately wanted to add some colour to the flower!  I picked a piece of the newsprint DSP so that the pretty little butterfly was peeking out from behind the flower (again wanting to add some colour!).  I used Basic Grey as the neutral and kept it monochromatic.

The facy fold part of the card is that it is a telescoping card!  This is the first time I have made one of these and I was so happy with how it turned out, and how easy they are once you have things lined up. I knew the effect of the card had worked when I saw the expression on my daughter's face when I opened up the card!

Happy Stamping