Hip-hippo-ray

 

I had a wonderful Christmas with my family, I hope you did too!  I didn’t get any “craft” related presents, but I’m buying myself some new things when Sale-a-bration is on so that I can get some free sets as well.  I just have to wait 26 more days! I did get a great present though, a brand new camera.  It’s actually a family present, that’s how I’m justifying the cost of it to myself.  Anyway hopefully there is a noticeable difference in my photos of my family and my cards.  I will be so upset if it wasn’t the cameras capabilities, but my capabilities as a photographer!

I haven’t made any cards since my Christmas lot and it felt weird to not have something to focus on.  So I went looking for card challenges again to motivate me.  There was a great sketch at Stamping 411 again, I really love that site.  It was a square card and I am really enjoying making square cards at the moment. I also found a new challenge site called colourQ and decided to play along with their chosen colours for this week.  They had so many gorgeous samples I had to give these colours a try.  It was kraft(crumbcake),  basic grey, black, old olive, vanilla  and white.

 

 

The spotty background is made using a new technique called inset embossing.  It is so simple to do and looks very effective.  All I did was punch out some black and grey circles of different sizes and glued them onto a square of naturals ivory cardstock.  Then I ran it through the big shot using the square lattice folder.

When I had this piece made and looked at all the colours I was using together I just knew it would make a great “man’s card”.  But just look how it ended up!!!!  I decided to go back to one of my favourite old sets that I haven’t used for a long time , Pun Fun and make something gorgeous and cute instead. 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Pun fun

Card : black, crumb cake (kraft), naturals ivory, basic grey, old olive, watercolour paper

Ink : stazon

Other : watercolour crayons, aquapainter, mistletoe ribbon, dimensionals, big shot, square lattice

Peaceful mistake

Wow!  I just won another challenge, can you believe it?  It was from SU-Only Challenges for my Joy card.  I feel so honoured to have been chosen in their Top 3.  I’m lucky they don’t give awards for how many cards you make, just whether they’re nice or not!
This is another super quick and easy card I made using the Petals a plenty embossing folder.


I’d say it’s the ribbon that kind of “makes” this card. The stripy ribbon looks very nice “ruffled”.  All you have to do to get this ribbon effect is to put sticky strip on your card and then kind of make little mountains with the ribbon and push the ribbon down onto the tape to make the valleys. I hope that description made sense.
Ingredients :
Stamps : Occasional greetings
Card : whisper white, shimmer white, real red, old olive
Ink : stazon
Other : big shot, petals a plenty embossing folder, real red ribbon, dimensionals, clear embossing powder, sticky strip

The poinsettia background has the slightest hint of pink on it. It was from playing with my brayer on the last poinsettia card, I tried it again (so a third time with cherry cobbler) but I thought it was too pale. So I left it but didn’t throw it out because it did still look pretty and I used it to make this card.
So this one is a “making something good from a mistake” card.  It’s great when that happens.    
Kathy                

Mojo poinsettia

I made another Christmas card using my punched poinsettia flower.  I used the sketch from this weeks Mojo Monday challenge.  I have never entered this challenge before, there are so many gorgeous cards in it to look at.
I used a new stamp set too.  I had been thinking about buying the Teeny Tiny Sentiments set but had resisted but then Stampin Up had it at such a great price this month I just had to get it.  I have only used the Merry Christmas stamp from it so far, but I really like it.  I think the sentiments will be a very useful size.
I’ve also used the Petals a Plenty embossing folder again, but this time I brayered some Cherry Cobbler ink onto the folder first, then put the whisper white card in and ran it through the Big Shot.
This is the first one I did.


This one is done the same way but without reinking the brayer.  So it has given it a lighter, more pinkish look.


I sprayed both the poinsettia and poinsettia background with the frost white shimmer paint too.
Ingredients :
Stamps : Teeny tiny sentiments
Card : cherry cobbler, old artichoke, whisper white
Ink :  Cherry cobbler
Other : big shot, petals a plenty embossing folder, polka dot embossing folder, gold brads, 5 petal punch, organza ribbon, brayer, frost white shimmer paint

Yes I’m still making Christmas cards and I still haven’t posted any yet.
Kathy

JOY

One of my cards won a challenge this week – my Barrel of Monkeys Christmas Card. This was my second win at Just Add Ink and I was really thrilled.  It’s so much fun to play along with challenges, you should give it a try.
Well I found a new site this week called SU-Only Challenges.  Their design team has come up with some gorgeous creations, follow the link and take a look.  This weeks challenge is to create a clean and simple Christmas card and this is what I came up with. 



It is very clean and simple.                                                                   No ribbon, no “extras”!                                                                         Just the square punch, 1 colour (NQN) for the images and another (crumb cake) for sponging the edges and that’s pretty much it.
Stampin Up sell square envelopes now, yippee!! They measure 14x14cm. so I bought some and made this card to fit.  The envelopes are beautiful and I can stamp on them too to make the card seem even more special.

Ingredients  :
Stamps : Winter Post, Elements of style
Card : crumb cake, very vanilla, NQN
Ink : NQN, crumb cake
Other : square punch, big shot, timeless type junior alphabet

It’s time now to write on all of these Christmas cards I’ve made and actually get them posted! 
Kathy

Dreaming of a white Christmas

I must really be dreaming of a white Christmas with all these skaters and snow flakes on my cards this year.  It has snowed in Hobart on Christmas day a couple of times but just on Mount Wellington I think, not actually in Hobart exactly. So it is extremely unlikely.  Even that is amazing though, when most of Australia would be in the 30 – 40C. range on Christmas day.  Someone in our local government even suggested Hobart build an outdoor skating rink, how fantastic would that be!!! (Not that I’ve ever skated in my life and probably never will, but my kids would love it).
I think snow would just add even more to the “magic” of Christmas.  Although I remember my Dad saying that I only wanted it to snow because I’d never had it, that it’s just dirty and cold and you have to shovel it off the path all the time. He grew up in Ireland and obviously didn’t appreciate snow and instead really enjoyed our hot Christmas in Australia.  I’d like to keep imagining that it is beautiful and magical though, so I will. 
Anyway back to Christmas card making……… this one uses another wonderful sketch from Stamping 411. It is this weeks challenge and there are a lot of beautiful samples to admire.



Ingredients :
Stamps : Occasional greetings, winter post
Card : black, confetti white, white, baja breeze, retired dsp
Ink : stazon, frost white shimmer paint
Other : pearls, hodgepodge hardware, photo corner punch, mat pack, piercer, whit pen, scallop trim border punch, organza ribbon, clear embossing powder

I managed to capture the shimmer paint a bit better with this photo.  You can see at the top of the main image how its shimmery and shiny, or looks darker (like the bottom of the piece) depending on how the light hits it.  I used stazon for the words but also clear embossed it, so it really stands out.
Wishing you a magical Christmas, no matter the weather.
Kathy

Barrel of Christmas Monkeys

I wasn’t going to do any challenges this week so that I could  concentrate on mass producing Christmas cards instead. But Just Add Ink have a challenge to use “critters” on a card and I couldn’t resist. I thought I’d use my monkeys again but in a different way this time.  Aren’t they cute!  It kind of reminds me of when we used to play Barrel of Monkeys.
Our local card shop sometimes has packs of hallmark envelopes for sale which I buy occasionally if they have any interesting sized ones. (Of course I never buy cards anymore so this is about the only business they get from me!) These ones were long and skinny and red.  So I made this card to fit and it measures approx. 9cm x 20cm.  It does mean I can’t get 2 cards from a sheet but the size is fun and perfect for my hanging Christmas monkeys.



Ingredients :
Stamps : Party Hearty, Fox and friends
Card : Real red, white, wild wasabi
Ink : wild wasabi, early espresso
Other : rhinestones, big shot, white pen, timeless type junior alphabet, brights dsp stack

Hope you’re further along with your Christmas card making than I am.
Kathy

Joyful Monkeys

I had a look at the sketch challenge at Stamping 411 this week and it really inspired me to get creative.
You probably don’t immediately think of monkeys when you think of Christmas do you!  I don’t normally either, but I really love these little guys and I wanted to give it a go, they are so fun to play with.
If you haven’t ventured over to Stamping 411 (you should) they have all the dimensions for the card already done for you, which in theory would make life easier wouldn’t it, BUT, I don’t follow the directions!  When I saw the 3 rectangles I knew I wanted to give my joyful monkeys a try.  So I stamped and cut them out and was very happy with it but then realised that mine was not really going to be the same as the sketch because there was meant to be a lot of room underneath them. Their rectangles must have been a lot smaller. There was no way I wasn’t going to use my cute monkeys though!  So here they are, greatly inspired by the sketch, but a “little different” in more ways than one!



Ingredients :
Stamps : Party Hearty, Fox and friends
Card : wild wasabi, real red, white
Ink : early espresso, wild wasabi
Other : big shot, polka dot embossing folder, timeless type junior alphabet, rhinestones, mistletoe ribbon, clear rhinestone brad


Kathy

2nd challenge card

I got some great news about my metal petal card last week. It was one of the top picks at Stamping 411!  I was so excited!!!!  So now I have 2 little awards for my cards in the side bar.  Woo hoo!
Okay, back to business!  I have already entered the challenge at Just Add Ink this week but I have been trying to come up with some more Christmas card ideas and I decided to use their sketch again, because it’s a great one.
I have used something from the new summer mini catalogue (starts Dec. 1) on this card.  It’s a new embossing folder called Square Lattice and I really like it. Perhaps because I used crumb cake, it looks a lot like I have hessian or something behind the images.  I think I will be using this folder a lot.
This card is very Clean and Simple and has no ribbon or bling (can you believe it!) So it would be a great one for posting.



Ingredients : 
Stamps :  Winter Post, Occasional Greetings, Sanded
Card :  not quite navy, very vanilla, crumb cake, naturals ivory
Ink :  not quite navy, crumb cake
Other : big shot, square lattice embossing folder, square punch

Make sure you check back here December 1 for a link to the new mini catalogue and there is also a great December sale that I’ll let you know about.  Perhaps you could buy yourself a Christmas present!
Kathy

A forest friend Christmas

I decided to make a Christmas card using an unconventional set for a change, Forest Friends.
Yes, it’s another reindeer card …… but a cute one this time!
I have also chosen unconventional Christmas colours, but I love using pinks and browns with this set.
I used this weeks sketch challenge from Just Add Ink for inspiration. It’s a great sketch but I have changed mine slightly to “make it work” with the vision I had for it. 



Ingredients :
Stamps : Forest Friends, Heard from the heart, Confetti
Card : choc chip, pink pirouette, pip, white
Ink : choc chip, pip, soft suede, real red marker
Other : choc chip ribbon (retired), buttons (retired), heart to heart punch, scallop trim border punch
I punched out pink pirouette hearts and just glued them to the background piece (which gives it an embossed look) and simply used a marker to make him look more like Rudolph.

Kathy

Metal Petals

I decided to try the faux tin metal ceiling technique again to make another Christmas card.  I used the Petals a plenty embossing folder this time, which gives it a very different look.
I used another great sketch challenge from Stamping 411 for this card.  Their design team have made some beautiful cards using this sketch, follow the link and be inspired.  I have actually “flipped” the sketch for mine, because with the elements I wanted to use it just worked better that way.



I used my poinsettia flower again, but this time I used rhinestones in the centre rather than the brads and I put a lot more shimmer paint on it.  The whole card looks so silvery and shiny; it’s pretty.
Well I think I’m up to 6 Christmas cards now (ha, ha) ……. slow aren’t I!
Kathy

Ingredients :
Stamps :  Occasional greetings
Card : black, white, confetti white, old olive, cherry cobbler
Ink  :  stazon, versamark
Other : silver embossing powder, petals a plenty embossing folder, big shot, 5 petal punch, rhinestones, heat gun, bone folder, mistletoe ribbon, scallop trim border punch, frost white shimmer paint, square punch

Sweet coin card

Sorry for the long break between blog posts.  I have had computer problems AGAIN!  Hopefully it will be good for a while now.  I have blogs to post and a lot of online shopping to do!
This card is for another challenge at Just Add Ink.
The challenge was to use Wild wasabi, River rock and Chocolate chip.  I must say, I do love all of these colours (river rock and chocolate chip are 2 of my favourites) but I did find these colours challenging to use together. But that’s the point of entering these challenges and trying something different isn’t it?
I made a few Christmas cards with the sweet treat cups last year and they were very popular. I should have made more!  So I thought I would make some again this year, but this time use a different design.
I used my new punch for the first time too; the scallop trim border punch.  It’s so pretty…. why didn’t I buy it sooner!


Ingredients :
Stamps : winter post, elements of style
Card : choc chip, very vanilla, river rock dsp (retired)
Ink : Wild wasabi, choc chip, river rock
Other : scallop trim border punch, designer label punch, circle punch, sweet treat cup, choc coins, linen thread, dimensionals

Another Dasher card

I have been looking at a few sites to challenge myself to make more Christmas cards.
It has been working!  I have about 4 now (ha ha).  I think I’d better hurry up and start mass producing a few!
I got the sketch for this card from Stamping 411.  It is another great, simple design, you should check out their site for challenges and helpful tutorials.
I was also inspired by a new site Inkspirations challenges.  Their challenge was a colour challenge, to use Real red, Old olive, kraft (crumb cake) and white.  Their design team are SO talented, you should check out their work!
I decided to combine both these challenges to make my Dasher card.



Ingredients :
Stamps : confetti, occasional greetings, dasher, winter post
Card : kraft (crumb cake), real red, old olive, whisper white
Ink :  crumb cake, versamark
Other : white embossing powder, clear embossing powder, old olive dsp (retired), ribbon (misteltoe), build a brad, circle punch

I clear embossed the little “snowflake” stamp from the confetti set on the real red (it hasn’t shown well in the photo but looks very pretty) and clear embossed dasher too. I embossed the saying in white.
Hope you’ve managed to make a few more Christmas card than me!
Kathy

Faux tin ceiling skaters

Last Saturday I met with one of my clubs and we made a little Christmas door hanger treat box.  I decided to get all my Christmas stamps out for them to use, so that they could choose whatever they liked to decorate their boxes. I wish I had thought to take a photo of them because they were all beautiful. Anyway, quite a few chose the skaters stamp from the Winter Post set. I was surprised! I had never inked it up, it just seemed too “un-Australian” to me.  But it looked so beautiful, I decided that I was going to make a card with it this year.  So thank you club members for inspiring me.

Then this morning I got more inspiration from Just Add Ink and their challenge to make a Christmas card.  At the start of their post they mention how we still like to incorporate flourishes, sparkles and snowflakes on our Christmas cards even though it’s so hot here. Although in Tassie it isn’t that hot (which I am very glad about actually!)

So that skater stamp was calling out to me yet again to be used this Christmas.





The third piece of inspiration for this card was from seeing a tutorial on Faux Tin Metal Ceiling technique by Dianna Gibbs. I have wanted to try it for a long time and I thought it might go nicely as a background for the skaters.  Her blog is called Stampin’ with Di and it is one of my favourites, she is so talented and has some wonderful tutorials on there too.  If you’d like to try this technique here is a link to the tutorial that inspired me so much.



Ingredients :
Stamps : Winter Post
Card : black, whisper white, confetti white, bashful blue, sahara sand
Ink : stazon, bashful blue, versamark
Other : frost white shimmer paint, big shot, silver embossing powder, heat gun, rhinestones, blender pen, dauber, vintage wallpaper embossing folder, timeless type alphabet, organza ribbon

I stamped the snow flakes with the shimmer paint and daubered some on the edge of the letters too. I used a blender pen to very lightly add some bashful blue to the skaters’ clothes to tie in with the letters and the rhinestones add that extra bit of bling. (Which I haven’t captured well enough in this photo unfortunately).
Kathy

Dasher challenge

This week at Just Add Ink they have a wonderful sketch challenge.
It is a really good one and I thought that there was no better time than NOW to start some christmas cards.  (Yes I know before NOW would have been an even better time to start but…..).
I knew the Dasher stamp would work beautifully with the sketch and I have been busting to use my Petals a Plenty embossing folder too.
So I used them both and of course I had to use the shimmer mist again.     I sprayed the embossed background piece with it and its also on the poinsettia and dasher.  It looks very pretty in real life but you can’t really notice in the photo unfortunately.
I inked Dasher first in river rock and then daubered champagne mist shimmer paint over the top of that.
I also daubered it onto the edges of my poinsettia.  I showed the ladies in one of my clubs how to make these flowers on Saturday and they all loved them.  They are very easy, but very effective.
I noticed when I visited Just Add Ink this morning to see all the entries, that there are a few “Dasher cards”.  Anyway here’s mine -



Ingredients :
Stamps : Dasher
Paper : very vanilla, old olive, cherry cobbler
Ink : river rock
Other : champagne mist shimmer paint, gold brads, 5 petal flower punch, bone folder, big shot, petals a plenty embossing folder, old olive 1.6cm grosgrain ribbon.

I hope I’ve inspired you to start your Christmas cards too (if you haven’t already).
Kathy

Butterfly birthday

 

I have had the template for this cute butterfly bag in my Splitcoast favourites for what seems like forever, I thought it was so sweet.  So when we got the Bigz butterfly die in our catalogue I just knew that was a treat I was buying myself.

I have had the die for a few months now but hadn’t got around to making the bag, so when I saw the challenge at Just Add Ink this week was all about birthdays I knew just what I wanted to make and it turned out very cute if I do say so myself.

I also made a little gift card to go with it and I made it small enough to pop inside the bag. With a selection of hair ties or girly jewellery inside this would make a gorgeous present.

The template was created by Brenda Quintana if you’d like a copy see here.

 

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : short and sweet

Card : pink pirouette, whisper white, brights dsp stack

Ink : regal rose, stazon

Other :  big shot, beautiful butterflies bigz die, rhinestones, stampin write journaller, regal rose ribbon, sticky strip

Christmas present

This is another one of the pull-up cards I’ve made, this time it’s a Christmas one.
I changed this one a little so that I could include a gift card with it.
I have a lot of nieces and nephews who live interstate and a gift card at Christmas time is the way to go.


When you pull the top:


The back of the “pull-up” bit:


Ingredients:
Stamps: winter post, occasional greetings
Card : retired dsp, real red, white
Ink : real red
Other : cropadile, ribbon, designer label punch

Birthday present card

 

My 9 year old daughter had a birthday party to go to this week and this is the card I made for her friend.

I got inspiration from a card I saw on splitcoaststampers.  I followed the link to her blog and CASED it from here.  She says that she CASED it from someone else too.  To CASE means to, Copy And Share Everything.

It’s okay to copy as long as you acknowledge it and don’t claim it as your own work.  It’s crafting etiquette.

Actually I was looking through the Splitcoast gallery just this week and thought “Hey that’s my card!!”  It was so obviously mine because the only thing the person changed was the stamped saying on it.  It was one of the one sheet wonder cards I made using Awash With Flowers and it was actually the card we made at our last club meeting.  Anyway I clicked on it and she did say she CASED it from me, so I felt fine about it then and honoured that someone liked something of mine enough to copy it!

Anyway, back to the card, it is a pull-up card which is meant to look like a present.

 

When you pull the top it looks like this:

 

Its a cute idea isn’t it!  That’s why I had to CASE it.

 

I had some exciting news today too. I was one of Just Add Ink’s Top Picks this week for their colour challenge!!!  My black magic card made it into the Top 5 and I got a little “badge” from them to put on my blog. 

Just Add Ink is such a great site.  I love playing along with their challenges and I am thrilled to get a compliment from them about one of my cards.

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Party Hearty

Card : Always dsp (retired), pumpkin pie, Regal rose, white

Ink : regal rose, pumpkin pie and regal rose markers

Other : scallop circle punch, circle punch, pumpkin ribbon, polka dot folder, big shot, crop a dile, dimensionals

Black magic challenge

 

 

The challenge at Just Add Ink this week is a colour challenge.

You needed to use bashful blue, sahara sand, blushing bride and pear pizzazz.

These colours do look very pretty together and it’s great to be challenged to use different colour combinations.

Watercolour pencils are not exact Stampin’ Up colours but the green I used for the swirly leaves is extremely close to the pear pizzazz colour.

There was also a great sketch challenge at Stamping411 this week and I decided to combine the two. So it is a double challenge with a black magic twist.

I still didn’t challenge myself to do the black magic technique on something other than a flower BUT I thought I had enough challenges for one day!

 

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Elements of Style, All a flutter, Occasional greetings

Card : Bashful blue, sahara sand, black, white, blushing bride, vellum cardstock

Ink : stazon, white craft, bashful blue and choc chip marker for butterfly

Other : big shot, finial press folder, white pen, bashful blue taffeta ribbon, hodgepodge hardware, watercolour pencils,

Crayon resist dragonflies

 

This is a card using another new set for me, Nature’s Nest.

You must be thinking “wow she spends a lot of money on stamp sets”.  Which is probably true, but, I also ask my family to buy me stamps for my birthday, mother’s day, christmas, whatever occasion I can think of basically. (haha)

My birthday is in September, right at new catalogue time, so guess what I got?  Lots of great new Stampin’ Up! “stuff”.  My 9 year old daughter chose this one.  She just loves this set, but because I got so many new sets at the same time, I hadn’t used it yet.

So I went on to Just Add Ink for some inspiration.  They have some great tutorials on there and I thought that the one for crayon resist might work well with this set and had to give it a try.

 

I kept it very plain because I wanted a male card for my nephew.  But it could have been “prettied” up.

When I had finished the dragonfly piece I sprayed it with shimmer mist, which gave it a nice glittery effect.  I tried photographing it in my craft room this time, because the shimmer is more noticeable in there, but I still couldn’t capture it unfortunately.

At our last stamp club I showed them how to use the shimmer spray and I was disappointed because we couldn’t see it very much.  It depends on the light and the dining room (where we have our club meetings) must just be too sunny or something.  My craft room is the place, but there is no way I could have sent them in there to get a better look ...… WAY TOO MESSY!

I don’t have time to be creative AND neat!

 

Ingredients :

Stamps:  Nature’s Nest, Heard from the Heart

Card : confetti white, whisper white, black

Ink :  Stazon, bashful blue, baja blue, certainly celery

Other :  white crayon, sponges, white shimmer spray

Black magic with a twist

I thought I would try the Black magic with a twist technique on my Apple Blossoms set. 
It’s a very simple technique and a simple card but I like it.
I think it is “fresh” and pretty.  Clean and simple.
I have only tried this technique once before on a birthday card for my daughter. It used a flower from Eastern Blooms and was very pretty too.
Did you know that there is a link on my blog to my splitcoaststampers gallery?  All of my “older” cards are there as well as all the cards I now make and show on my blog.
Maybe I should try using this technique on something that isn’t a flower sometime and see how it looks?  You just need it to be a stamp with some solid area on it so that you can “colour” it in.



Ingredients :
Stamps : Apple Blossoms (level 2 hostess set)
Card : black, whisper white, confetti white, perfect plum, marina mist
Ink : white, black stazon
Other : watercolour pencils, white gel pen, big shot, polka dot, lots of tags, white ribbon, wide oval punch

Because I care

 

Well sorry for the long break between blog posts.  I have had computer problems, sick kids and now I’ve got it too. 

I did manage to make a card yesterday, but it took me at least twice as long to make as it usually would. It’s a slow process when you’re blowing your nose every couple of minutes!!!!

Anyway, I am very happy with the result.  It is a card for my daughter’s violin teacher, just to say thank you for all the effort she puts in.  Just letting her know we appreciate her kindness and generosity. 

At Just Add Ink this week there was a just add blue challenge to raise awareness about anxiety and depression.  It was a great challenge to be involved with.

I used the new Level 1 hostess set Because I Care.  I had used the words in it before but not the actual flower. When I saw the challenge was to use blue I thought of it immediately.  I love blue hydrangeas (sp?) and I love how it turned out.

My daughter’s violin teacher is a keen gardener and of course with the music background, it is a card made just for her.

 

 

It’s a bit hard to tell in the photo, but I stamped the flower onto vellum cardstock using stazon and then I turned it over and used a stylus to give the petals dimension by rubbing on them to “push them out”.

Then I used baja blue, not quite navy and old olive markers  to colour in the flower from the back.

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Because I Care, Music Notes wheel

Card : Not quite navy, vellum card, crumb cake (kraft)

Ink : stazon, NQN, crumb cake (daubered),NQN,Baja blue,old olive markers

Other : neutrals brads, large oval punch, cropadile, kraft taffeta ribbon

Christmas special offer

Stampin’ Up! are giving away rolls of exclusive ribbon with selected christmas bundles.
The sale ends November 30 and is while stocks last.
To see this sale click here.
If you are interested in buying one of these bundles to make your christmas cards this year please send me an email or phone me.
Kathy

Elements of pink

 

This card is for a challenge at Just Add Ink .

It is Pink Ribbon Day very soon (25th October) and the challenge was to create a card which celebrated the feminine, using “pink and bling”.

So this weeks card wasn’t that challenging for me, but I wanted to make it a truly beautiful one.  I also wanted to use a sentiment which could be used for any occasion really, but one you could give to someone who was going  through a tough time and in need of some TLC.

 

 

I used another new set of mine, Elements of Style. I just love the roses in this set!

I watercoloured them with PIP and Rose Red and used River Rock and Old Olive for the leaves.

I also cut out a watercoloured piece using the smallest butterfly from the Beautiful Butterflies die.

A new technique I used on this card was to spritz it with Frost White Shimmer Paint. It looks so pretty and with a hint of sparkle, In Real Life, but unfortunately I’m not a good enough photographer to capture it.

I used some of the new sating ribbon (vanilla) on the card too.  I love it and will have to buy 1 or 2 or 3 or maybe more rolls!

Ingredients :

Stamps : Elements of style, Thoughts and Prayers

Ink : stazon, PIP, rose red, old olive, river rock

Card : very vanilla, river rock, pink pirouette

Other : Pearls, frost white shimmer paint, beautiful butterflies, big shot, polka dot e.f., aquapainter, vanilla satin ribbon, daubers

Final one sheet wonder

 

Well my daughter’s violin eisteddfod was on this week and she got a merit certificate (YEAH!!!)

I packaged the one sheet wonder cards up in this Card Folder to give to her teacher and accompanist.  They thought they were beautiful.

It’s so nice to give and receive hand-made presents!

I got the instructions for the card folder from  

http://makeeshabyl.com.au

She has some great stuff on her blog.

The 3 cards fitted in well, but if I had put less ribbon and bling on them I could have fitted in one or two more I think.

It was very easy to make and was a nice way to package the cards.                              

 

 

This is how it looks on the inside.  The ribbon holds it closed and keeps the cards in place.

 

There are violin exams on very soon too and I’ll have to come up with another gift for them !!!  I’d better get off this computer and start thinking, umm……….

 

Ingredients:

Stamps : Awash with flowers, Apple Blossoms (level 2 hostess set)

Card : bashful blue 12”, early espresso, whisper white

Ink : early espresso, bash blue, regal rose, pip, wasabi, marina mist

Other : word window punch, lots of tags die, big shot, bashful blue ribbon, cropadile, brad, dimensionals

Flutter notepad

 

Just thought I’d show you a little notepad I made, well decorated actually, for Rose.  She’s the friend my daughter gave the 5 side-step card to and I thought a little notepad with her name on it might be appreciated (plus the present just looked like it needed “something extra”).

I used another new stamp for me called All a Flutter, isn’t it a beautiful butterfly!  I also used Confetti for the background, it is one with lots of tiny letters, appropriate for a notebook I thought.  I also used lots of ribbon from my pre-Stampin Up days and some retired cardstock (as I was sure Rose wouldn’t care!)

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : All a flutter, confetti

Ink : stazon, cameo coral, choc chip

Card : cameo coral, blush blossom

Other : ribbons, aquapainter, big shot, timeless type alpha, rhinestone

A watercolour challenge

I decided to play along with the Just Add Ink challenge again this week.  This time it is a colour challenge (and challenging it was!) You had to use Rose red, Old olive, Always artichoke and Pumpkin pie.  Together!  Well it’s good to venture out of your comfort zone and do something different for a change.
I also incorporated a sketch challenge from Splitcoaststampers which was a nice one and so it’s a double challenge card.
I decided to try out my new set, The Nicest Things (isn’t it sweet!) and do some watercolouring.  I haven’t done any for a LONG time and I really enjoyed it.

Ingredients :
Stamps : The nicest things
Card : confetti white, always artichoke, pumpkin pie, rose red, watercolour
Ink : stazon, pumpkin, olive, baja, rose red, daffodil, saffron, pip, plum, blush, bash blue
Other : old olive ribbon and button, dimensionals, aquapainter, linen thread, glue dot

Awash 3

 

This is the third card from my one sheet wonder using Awash with flowers.

I really like this set, it’s a bit different to my other "flowery” ones.

It is a two-step set and I bought it in clear mount, which has made it a lot quicker and easier to use I think.

This one uses an old sketch challenge from splitcoaststampers.  I keep sketches I really like in a folder and refer to them occasionally for inspiration. I have used this one a few times because I really like the design of it.

The “Thank You” is from a new level 1 hostess set called Because I Care.  It’s a really beautiful flower set too.  If you’d like to get it for free by having a “party” please email me.

I’ve been stamping a lot this week. I hope you’ve had time to create too.

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Awash with flowers, Because I care (level 1 hostess set)

Ink : Early espresso, regal rose, pip, bashful blue, marina mist

Card : Early espresso, pink pirouette, whisper white

Other : Pearls, dimensionals

Awash 2

This is the second card I have made with my one sheet wonder of Awash With Flowers.
I have used another sketch challenge for inspiration, this time from Stamping 411.  It’s a gorgeous one I think. It’s my first time playing along with a challenge from this site, but I often visit there because they always have such great ideas.
I made this one a Get Well card, as it’s great to have one on hand and ready for when you need one. I have made the ladies a For You, and a Thank you card also.  I’m going to include stamped envelopes too.

Ingredients :
Stamps : Awash with flowers, Thoughts and prayers
Ink : bashful blue, pip, regal rose, early espresso
Card : early espresso, bashful blue, whisper white
Other : pearls, big shot, polka dot folder, bashful blue ribbon (retired), dimensionals

one sheet wonder

I had a look at the challenge on Just Add Ink this week and it was a great sketch challenge. I decided to make a one sheet wonder using one of my new sets Awash with Flowers and use that on my challenge card.

Instead of ribbon, as in the sketch, I used my scallop edge punch to create a “ribbon-like” accent and used the new Stampin’ Up! pearls on the scallops and also on the flower centres. They really added that “special something” to the card.
I also tried out the new blue, Marina Mist, and it is a really lovely colour.
I am going to make a series of cards using the rest of the one sheet wonder to give to my daughter’s violin teacher and accompanist. The Clarence Eisteddfod is on very soon and I always like to give them a little present for their help when music exams and eisteddfods are on.  Hopefully they will like them. I will show you the other cards I come up with during the week.
Ingredients :
Stamps : Awash with flowers, Occasional greetings
Ink : Early espresso, Marina mist, regal rose, pip, bashful blue, wasabi
Card : early espresso, whisper white
Other : Scallop edge border punch, pearls

Another number card

My youngest daughter has another birthday party to go to next week and I thought I would try to make something different. I decided to use Party Hearty again and try making a side-step card.
I’m not totally happy with it, but I will try them again sometime, it wasn’t difficult.
Anyway she loved it and thought her friend would too.  It’s pretty easy to please a 5 year old girl as long as there’s pink on the card I guess!



Ingredients:
Stamps : Party Hearty, Something Sweet, Confetti
Ink : Melon Mambo, pip, crumb cake, versamark
Card : razzleberry, melon mambo, pink pirouette, white
Other : heat and stick powder, dazzling diamonds, big shot, simple numbers die, lots of tags die, rhinestones, 2 way glue pen, hodgepodge hardware, pip taffeta ribbon

6 Little Monkeys

This is the other card I made for the Big Shot Fundraiser.
My youngest daughter turns 6 next year and I thought I might give it to her as her favourite colour is pink, and I knew she would like the “bling” on the party hats.  I also knew that if I came up with something else in the meantime that there would be lots of parties to go to next year with her friends all turning 6 too.
Well she saw it and loved it, but was disappointed and sad when I said I might give it to her for her next birthday. Why?  Well because she had already seen it and she wants a surprise!!! She had a think and said perhaps she might forget about it by then (April) so then all was good with the world again and she was happy !!!!

This card uses some of my new goodies too!
The numbers die, lots of tags die and although Party Hearty is not new I only just got it. The rhinestones are new and look so gorgeous on top of the party hats.  I’ve also used Early Espresso (a new colour) for the monkeys.  I didn’t really think I needed another brown (I love choc chip) but actually I really love this new one!  I also used melon mambo which I haven’t used before and paired it with old olive, which I couldn’t get my head around being a bright, but actually they look great together.
Ingredients :
Stamps : Fox and Friends, Upsy Daisy, Party Hearty
Card : whisper white, pip, melon mambo, old olive
Ink : melon mambo, early espresso, old olive marker
Other : big shot, lots of tags, simple numbers, rhinestones, dimensionals

Another reinker card

I’ve made another card using the embossed reinker spread technique and Fifth Ave Floral for a fundraiser I’m involved in.
Rhonda Statham, a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator from NSW, has organised a Big Shot die sample booklet as a fundraiser to help a friend with the cost of buying a continuous glucose monitoring system for her son who has diabetes.
Demonstrators from all over Australia are helping out by providing samples of Big Shot die cuts and cards made using them. Rhonda is then turning these into a pdf file for other demonstrators to purchase.
It will be a great tool to have, so that you can see the actual size of the dies and what can be done with them.
I was very happy to help out.
My job was to provide die cuts of the Bigz Simple Numbers Alphabet and some card samples.
This is one of them and I’ll show you the other later on in the week.
I didn’t use a new stamp set but there are a lot of new goodies from my recent HUGE order on it!
I cut the 70 out of some thick packing cardboard I found using Bigz Simple Numbers and it cut perfectly.  I then painted it with a mixture of pip reinker and my new frost white shimmer paint. I used my new Finial Press embossing folder for the background and dabbed a little of the paint mixture on to the raised areas of the embossed piece.  I used the new shimmery white card for the flowers, the base and the top note piece (very pretty) and used the new organza ribbon too!


Ingredients :
Stamps : Fifth Ave Floral
Card : Shimmery white, pink pirouette, river rock
Ink : shimmer paint white, reinkers, versamark
Other : organza ribbon, big shot, bigz simple numbers, finial press folder, dauber, little leaves, top note, white embossing powder, heat gun

Embossed Reinker Spread

The hostess for club this month asked me to teach everyone how to do the Embossed Reinker Spread technique.
They were able to choose between 2 cards, which both used the Fifth Avenue Floral set.
On this one we also used one of my new sets, Oval All.  I think it will get used a lot!!!
Anyway, everyone made beautiful flowers for their cards. They were all unique because everyone used different reinkers and we all had a great afternoon crafting.

Ingredients:
Stamps : Fifth Avenue Floral, Oval All
Card : Shimmery white, whisper white, blush blossom, mellow moss, confetti white
Ink : Versamark, baja breeze, pip, subtles reinkers.
Other : white emboss powder, heat gun, top note die, polka dot folder, white grosgrain, little leaves sizzlet, big shot, oval punch, oval scallop punch, dimensionals, aquapainters

Father’s Day card

I have used the Just Add Ink sketch challenge for some Father’s Day card making inspiration.
I do have trouble making cards for men (probably most of us do) but I am happy with how this one turned out.
I have had the background piece ready to be used for something for a while now.  It was a technique I saw on Jan Tink’s blog once, but I can’t remember what it’s called unfortunately. I can’t find it again on her site but if you haven’t ever visited Jan’s blog before, you absolutely must.  It’s one of my most favourite blogs, she is very creative, talented AND funny.
Anyway, what you do is get some dsp (I hope I’ve educated you enough to know what that is now) that has a diagonal stripe. You then cut strips of it 3/4 “ wide and alternate them, so that you get the zigzag pattern.  It looks very cool I think.

Ingredients:
Stamps : Occasional Greetings
Card : Kraft (crumb cake), always artichoke, vanilla, retired dsp
Ink : Always artichoke
Other : Linen thread

Just a reminder too that the new Stampin’ Up! catalogue is out now.
I’m still waiting on my HUGE order to be delivered and then I’ll have some new stuff to show you.
There’s a link to the online catalogue on the right-hand side of my blog.  If you don’t have a catalogue yet, take a look, there’s some beautiful new stuff inside!
Hope you have a great weekend.

Wow! Another sale already…

 

Well Stampin’ Up! have surprised us all with additional last chance list discounts.  This is the first time they have ever done this and they say probably the last.

This was very unexpected. I bought a punch only 2 days ago myself which is now 50% off.  So all I can say to my customers who have bought a punch this month is  “I know how you feel” .

Anyway I had to let you know about this sale because there may be other punches which you would love to get at 50% off .

This offer is only while stocks last and it ends August 31.

If you would like to place an order email or ring me (remember to add 5% for shipping please).  You will need to be quick I’d say.

Here’s the list (it’s not just punches!)

Big Bold Birthday 50% off $26.98

Seeing Spots      50% off $14.98

Big Deal Alpha     50% off $38.98

In colour card stock (116208) $7.25

Bold Brights markers 25% off $43.46

Soft subtle markers 25% off $43.46

Rich regal markers 25%off    $43.46

Many marvellous markers 25% off $175.46

Bold bright spots 25% off $31.46

Earth element spots 25% off $31.46

Earth element markers 25% off $43.46

Rich regal spots 25% off $31.46

Urban garden dsp 50% off $8.48

Bella rose dsp 50% off $8.48

Crafters tool kit 25%off 58.46

(All of these punches are 50% off and cost $15.48 each):

large oval

eyelet border

scallop circle

heart to heart

wide oval

scallop edge

full heart

1 3/4 circle

butterfly

As promised here is another quilt card I’ve made to show you, this time a cute baby card.

Ingredients:

Stamps: Short and sweet, Forest friends

Paper: retired dsp, PIP,white, cocoa

Ink: cocoa

Other: Big shot, polka dot embossing folder, top note die, scallop circle punch, circle punches, white gel pen, white button, daubers, glue dot.

 

First ever blog post!

Hi,

I have decided to start a blog, where I can show you some of my cards and let you know what’s going on in the world of Stampin’ Up!

I might talk about what is happening in the rest of my world too, but primarily this is my Stampin’ Up! sharing place.

I would love to get feedback on my cards, so please leave me a message if you like them.
Also if you need any card making advice just ask.  I’d love to help if I can.

I will try to post a new blog entry every few days, but I’m sure you understand that “other stuff” gets in the way of creativity sometimes. Anyway that’s my aim.



This card is one that I’ve made for my Mum for her birthday.  I am actually making her a stack of different, but similar cards and putting them in a box for her to keep them in and use all year round.

It is called a Quilt card and it is a great way to use up your scraps of patterned paper, or dsp as us Stampin’ Up demos call it (designer series paper). I have made about 6 so far, some are bright and some more subtle.  I have enjoyed putting my scraps to good use though, (I’ve been hoarding them for a while).  It’s fun trying to get all the little squares in a pattern or colourway that you’re happy with, probably just like quilting but a lot less time consuming!  Anyway I’m happy with how they turned out plus my Mum is a quilter so I’m really hoping they will appeal to her. I am giving her a gift card to spend at a quilting shop to go along with them. I might show you a couple more later this week.

It’s been great having so many beautiful Stampin’ Up! sentiment stamps to use because I’ve been able to make her cards for lots of different occasions.  The design is the same for all of them, I just had to change the colours and sentiments.

I got the colours for this card from this weeks colour challenge on Just Add Ink.  You had to use Chocolate Chip, Kraft (aka Crumb Cake) and Real Red. I don’t think I’ve used these 3 colours together before and I thought I could give them a try on one of Mum’s cards.  I was happy with how it turned out.

If you look really hard at this card you may notice something new that Stampin’ Up! will be selling in the new catalogue (starting Sept. 1).  It’s the red backing piece, so you can’t see that much of it but it’s a new embossing folder for the Big Shot called Vintage Wallpaper. It’s absolutely stunning and you kind of feel bad covering it up at all really. (It looks even better in real life of course because you can really see the dimension it gives to the card).

I have just received copies of the new catalogue and there are so many beautiful things in it.  If you’re in one of my clubs you will get your free copy very soon.  If not, why not host a party and receive a free copy, plus all the other hostess benefits? Contact me if you’d like to find out more.

I hope you get some time to do some stamping this week too!

Kathy

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Occasional Greetings
Ink: Real Red, Choc Chip markers. (Choc chip pad and daubers for sponging).
Paper: Real Red, Choc Chip, Very Vanilla, Bella Bleu (for Kraft element of challenge)and retired choc chip xmas  dsp.
Big Shot Top Note die and vintage wallpaper e.f., large square punch, Red button, mat pack.