Woohoo, I actually made stuff!!!

I have been so bad about posting creations the last week or so, mostly because there have been no creations to post! So today, finally, I have something to show you all.

Friday was a dreadful day...I had a conference to go to, where PhD students (mostly second year) gave papers on their subjects. It wasn't that the papers were dreadful, some of them were actually really fascinating...it was the seating that was completely hideous. Now, I fully understand that you wouldn't want the chairs to be so comfy that everyone would be falling asleep...but do they have to be so atrocious? Seriously, 6 hours of sitting in one of those chairs and even the most hardened terrorist would be willing to give up all their secrets!! Consequently, I spent most of Saturday in bed, slathered in smelly liniment, lying on the electric blanket and taking lots of painkillers. Finally I got sick of that, took some more painkillers and sat down to create.

This first card is for my SU *sister* Tanya, whose mother passed away suddenly yesterday morning. Although I've never actually met Tanya, or her mum, I have to admit I cried....a lot! You see, Tanya's mum just turned 60 a few months ago and my beloved Mama will be turning 60 in January. The thought that I could loose her so suddenly did my head in, and I felt for poor Tanya so much. So this card will be off to her first thing Monday morning.

I don't have any sympathy stamps...I guess I hoped that I would never need them, so I thought that the "Thinking of You" sentiment from the "For a Friend" hostess set would be appropriate. The paper is from the gorgeous Fall Flowers DSP and it's mounted on a craft base. The sentiment panel is Sahara Sand and the panel under the Sky scalloped bit is Old Olive. The flower is from the Pretties kit and coloured Soft Sky with the ink pad and a sponge dauber. The ribbon is also sky and the button is a vanilla one from the neutrals pack and threaded with lined thread. I found it really hard to make this as I've never made a sympathy card before, and I can only hope that it brings her some small comfort in this awful time.

The second card I have to show you is for my lovely nephew Tom...you know, the talented 4 yr old photographer!! This should have been made and sent already, but it's done now and hopefully if I pop them in the post box today they should have happy mail at their new house in a few days.

I know we all find it hard to make *boy* cards, it's especially hard for me with NO RIBBON! LOL. But I had these images sitting there from the image swap we did ages ago and as I got some of the "Wanted" DSP I thought I'd do a *cowboy* style card for Tommy...he's certainly a "genuine one & only* so I thought it would be suitable! The card base is Really Rust, The panel at the bottom is mounted on Choc Chip and Sage Shadow and the star brads are from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge.

Seeing as I haven't done a Completely Random Sunday post today, I thought I would leave you with a tiny bit of randomness by way of a quote:

The average person thinks he isn't.
  - Father Larry Lorenzoni

Think about it....LOL!!

Kristie

Kristina's CI #20

Told you I'd have something crafty to show you today! Kristina's challenge this week is inspired by these really cool chairs from Pottery Barn Kids...very nice!

I really love that vanilla, chocolate and pink one! As you can see, the colours were Choc Chip, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette (for which I substituted Pretty in Pink as we don't have it here yet), Certainly Celery and Very Vanilla. Here's my card:

I've used a bunch of different stuff here so I'll keep it short and sweet by listing the ingredients in a second. The only thing to note is that the leaves on the Choc panel were stamped in VersaMark and then clear embossed. They look really nice in real life.

Ingredients:

Stamps: Natural Beauty (the butterfly), Bodacious Bouquet (the BG leaf) Bloomin' with Beauty (flower)

Ink: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip and VersaMark.

Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, and Watercolour Paper.

Other: A Perfect Day rub-ons, Pretty in Pink Taffeta ribbon, Clear embossing powder, heat gun, Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers.

Ok, that's it for now. Hope you have a great day,

Kristie

Bad, bad blogger

For once it's not *Blogger* that I can blame for my lack of posting, but it's really my own slack self! Well, I'm not really that slack, I have actually been busy with *real life*...I had my six month torture session review for my PhD yesterday. Imagine being locked in a room with two professors who grill you about *exactly* what you've been doing and how you've been doing it, and then what you plan to be doing for the next six months and you'll have a pretty good idea what my afternoon was like. But as if that wasn't enough, I went afterward and got poked with lots of needles. This is normally a rather pleasant experience, contrary to what one might expect. Except for yesterday. Yesterday my doctor found a few *tender* spots in unusual places and decided that I needed about twice as many needles as usual....some of them hurt...yes I am a whiner!! But they really did hurt.

Then I practically ran {well, walked rather fast for a person that just been poked with 60 gajillion needles} over to the Mac centre in order to get to the bank before it closed....4.02pm...those slacker bank workers wouldn't let me in....seriously, what kind of a business opens at 9.30am and closes at 4pm...that's just not convenient for anyone! A further attempt to get people to deal with computers and automated phone banking instead of paying real people to serve you! Yes I know that it's always been like that but it still won't stop me complaining about it!

So, please forgive me for not posting any craft related eye candy....I know I'm not as cute as the kitteh above but I promise that tomorrow I will have something to show you....Kristina Werner has posted a new colour challenge today and I AM going to do it....no, really. As soon as the pizza gets here and I gorge myself on meaty pizza and garlic bread goodness!

As a further apology for my badness, I will give you the link to the funniest site since I found Lolcats....Cake Wrecks....go, see for yourself...laugh...do not consume food or beverages while perusing this site....really.

Kristie

Cards for my girls

Finally I have some new eye candy to show you! Yesterday I sat down and made these two cards for Madonna's girls, Katelin and Alexandra. They moved house over the weekend and I wanted to make them something to say congratulations and so that they would have mail at their new home. I love making cards for the girls, because I can be all 'girly' and extravagant! However, with my back the way it is, I didn't get too carried away with these ones.

This one's for Katie. I've used the Spring Fling DSP and the coordinating CS colours of Pretty in Pink, So Saffron and Mellow Moss. The flowers are from the On Board Blossoms and Basics and covered with CS punched out with the five petal flower punch...which happens to match perfectly...I love that about SU! The Pretty in Pink centres are punched out with the 1/2" circle and covered with Crystal Effects. The 'Wonderful' sentiment is from Warm Words and is in an oval Antique Brass frame with the same hodgepodge brads. The ribbon is Pink Taffeta.

This one's for Miss Lexi. The card base is Certainly Celery, the flower is from the Blossoms and Basics and the sentiment is a rubon from A Perfect Day. The ribbon is my very last piece of Pretty in Pink narrow grosgrain....see how much I love my niece when I use up the last bit of one of my favourite ribbons. Of course it does give me the excuse of buying a whole roll of it, as that was part of my ribbon share from a few months back! I've also used some more of the Spring Fling DSP, the polka dot pink is the reverse of the stripe, and some So Saffron CS stamped with little Saffron flowers from "Always".

They're both really simple cards, but rather pretty I think and I hope my favourite girls like them!

I also wanted to say a big thank you for all the lovely comments left on my card for Kristina's challenge. I'm thrilled to be in her 10 Random selections!! It really made my day.

So, I hope you all have as wonderful a day as I am having,

Kristie

Absolutely Nothing Important

I don't have anything craft related to show, yet again. I did manage to create a couple of things this evening, but by the time I was finished it was too dark to take a picture of them...and Dr Who was about to start. Now, I'm just sitting around waiting for Dexter. I'm not entirely sure what my taste in TV says about me....but I should probably add in that I'm really glad that the Olympics are over today and this week my favourite shows come back: Criminal Minds and Bones. So basically you now know that I like scary, bloody, and murderous....oh, and I'm looking forward to Supernatural coming back soon, so add in completely unrealistic to that mix. However, between all of these shows and my fetish for Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes I could probably get away with murder...LOL!!!!

Right, so I thought that I would share some more of my favourite quotes with you, just to make up for the lack of eye candy. Today's quotes are from the great Albert Einstein...not such a long way from Terry Pratchett really, just a different way of trying to work out how the world works....honest!

The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

It is harder to crack a prejudice than an atom.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. {Doesn't this sound just like something TP would say???}

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

On that note I'll leave you to question why on earth you keep coming back here when there's nothing pretty to see...

LOL!

Have a great day

Kristie

Random Saturday

Sorry I have no crafty things to show you today. I'm afraid that the weather here has been cold and wet and yesterday was the coldest day in Sydney for 12 years, which is the perfect combination for sending my back into rebellion. I just haven't been able to sit at the craft table long enough to make anything, and therefore had to resort to laying down on my toasty electric blanket and watching TV. I have lots of ideas for things to make, just not the ability to make them.

I did find the time however to visit the delightful Miss Lauren this morning (via her blog of course...it's a long way from Sydney to NJ) and she had a very cute blog thing.

The Recipe For Kristie

3 parts Intuition 2 parts Craftiness 1 part Courage Splash of Delight Sip slowly on the beach

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

The beach sounds pretty good right about now!

Anyway, I thought that this week we would have a random Saturday and with a little luck I will have something in the craft department to show you tomorrow. Madonna is moving house this weekend and I intend to make the kids some cards and get them posted asap, so that they get mail at their new place. They love getting mail....but then so do I, as long as it's HAPPY mail and not bills!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend

Kristie

Kristina's Colour Inspiration #19

Even though poor Kristina has a very sore back (a problem I can definitely relate to!) she has put up another colour inspiration challenge today. As soon as I saw it there, I went and whipped out a very quick card. I might find time to play with this again later, but for now here's the inspiration:

 

 

 

 

And here's my first attempt:

For my touch of colour I went with Pink Passion, which I think looks awesome with the black, gray and white.

I've used the 'Office Accoutrements' stamps, some little black buttons threaded with little slivers of pink CS, Pink ink (of course), a bit of scalloping with the slit punch and some piercing around the Gray panel.

The only thing that was unusual about this card was that when I cut the black base to A5 I didn't just fold it in half, but scored it at 9.5cm and added the scalloped piece to the short side. Oh, I guess the other unusual thing is that I didn't use any ribbon...LOL!!

I might have to send this one to Mad, she's definitely an original...and it's all because of her that I got this stamp set in the first place!!

OK, this is the third post for the day, so you're probably all sick to death of me by now! I'm going to go lie down and watch some Olympic action...it doesn't matter what, my brain needs a rest as well as my back.

See ya,

Kristie

Channeling the Elite

Last night I sat down to make a card using a colour combination suggested by Madonna: Old Olive, So Saffron and Taken with Teal. I wanted to do some colouring (a la Alisa) and I was a bit inspired by some of the lovely vintage-y things that Angela has been doing lately, as well as her use of the awesome wide Saffron ribbon yesterday. So this is what I came up with:

I am not entirely sure that it was a complete success, and on further consideration I should probably not try to do too many things at once...LOL!! I've used the flower from "Bloomin' with Beauty" stamped on watercolour paper and coloured with Teal and Olive, the retired French Script background stamp in Teal on the Saffron CS, and the sentiment from "Spring Solitude" punched out with the Word Window Punch. The flowers up top are from the Pretties Kit and coloured with Saffron and Teal Markers, with a Saffron brad in the centre. The ribbons are from the Sherbet and Theatre ribbon originals. There's lots of distressing and sponging too.

It actually looks ok IRL, but I'm not sure that it's going to be a favourite. It make have to go into the dodgy card box to be given to someone with no appreciation for what a good card looks like....pmsl!!!

I best be off now and try to get some work done, instead of messing around with this techno stuff.

Have a wonderful day,

Kristie

Testing

As mentioned before on this blog, I am rather technologically inept. I have not been entirely happy with Blogger, but don't want to go to all the trouble of changing to another blog...yes I'm probably a bit lazy too! So I'm testing out Windows Live Writer which will apparently allow me to have cooler looking posts without going to all the trouble of learning html code or whatever.

It's all a bit confusing really, but I'll get there eventually...I hope!!!

So, this is my test run. If this works out I will be back soon with a craft post.

Kristie

Card of the Week

Here's the next instalment in my Card of the Week feature for Alisa's team forum for August featuring items from the Mini catty...a Christmas card! One done...a bajillion to go!I haven't been feeling too great the last week or so and I wanted to keep this pretty simple and easy...the thing that took the longest was tying the bow...and it's still not perfect! Oh well, practice makes perfect right? I wouldn't want to be mailing this one with that ginormous bow on it, but it's pretty!! I don't like making a whole bunch of cards that are exactly the same anyway, but this colour combo is rather nice for Christmas I think...not your traditional red and green, but I'm not a big fan of that anyway. I'll probably make some more similar to this...just without the hardware and big bow!!! But I've also got a few other ideas for Chrissy cards that involve much less traditional colours...like PINK & PURPLE...LOL!!

Right, enough blather, I have heaps to do today and really need to get to it. Here's the ingredients:
Stamps: Short and Sweet
Ink: Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate
Card stock: River Rock, Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate
Other: Holiday Harmony DSP, Styled Silver Hodgepodge frame and brads, Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon, Designer Label punch, sponge daubers, pop-up glue dots.

Hope you all have a fantastic day
Kristie

Mini photo album

A few weeks ago my Mum asked me to send her some pictures I'd taken of Madonna's youngest daughter, Alexandra, when I'd been there for a visit in June. Well of course I couldn't just print off the pics and send them to her...I had to make a little 6x6 album for them first. These photos are out of order, but blogger won't play nice with me today so this is the way you have to see them!

This first photo is the first picture inside the album. It's a photo of Mad's three kids altogether. From left to right: Thomas, Alexandra (who we all call Lexi) and Katelin. Aren't they just gorgeous? If you visit Madonna's blog you would have seen that she scrap booked this photo a little while ago (it's one that she took), but I included it in Mum's album because it's just too cute not to.
This is actually the cover of the album. I inked the chipboard letters in Wild Wasabi and then covered them in Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds glitter for a bit of bling. The whole album is just made from Wild Wasabi and Soft Sky cardstock, Spring Silhouettes DSP and the matching Sky and Wasabi ribbons and ink. I've used a few different stamps too, but as I didn't take pictures of all the pages I can't really remember which ones. The So Swirly Wheel was used on the page above.
I've used the flower stamp from Boho Backgrounds on the Sky page here, and Warm Words for the 'Adorable' stamp on the Wasabi page, along with some more of the DSP. I love that pic of Lexi and Madonna together...it's really indicative of the lovely relationship they have. And check out Miss Lexi's eyes...they are so stunning, and she's got the most gorgeous eyelashes to go with them...just not fair!!
Anyway, this should have arrived at Mum's by now. I hope she likes it!!! I used rather large jump rings putting it all together with the idea that I can add extra pages along the way. Lexi is only 18 months old, so I imagine I'll have plenty of opportunities to get more cute photos to add to it.

6x6 pages are really awesome, because they're so quick compared to the larger ones. The photos take centre stage and you only need minimal embellishments for them to look great...OMG, can you believe I just said that....LOL!! Don't worry though, when I do the 12x12 pages I used plenty of embellies!!!

Right, I'd better go get ready for my doctors appointment....the evil back monster has been here the last few days and I'm in dire need of some acupuncture!

Hope you're all having a fantastic day,
Kristie

Flip Book

You may recall that on Saturday I mentioned that I was going to try to make the cool Flip Book that I saw on Amy Celona's site. Well, this is it....

In this last picture you can see just how many flip out panels there are. Amy's tutorial is to make this book using half a Simply Scrappin' (or Scrappin' Memories for US/Canada) kit and the one she used is 'Tie the Knot', a very pretty kit which we don't have in Australia. You should go have a look at the ones that she's made...they are totally awesome!

I used a retired kit called 'Tickets & Tokens' which is a travel kit I guess. Anyway, I choose this one as I thought it would make a nice gift for one of my housemates who is from Taiwan and is only here for a few months. I thought she could use it to put in pictures from her travels in Australia. I haven't given it to her yet, but I hope she likes it. I also used some retired organdy ribbon in Thyme and Cranberry to go with the colours in the kit, as well as some retired DSP and a jumbo eyelet on the front cover to thread the ribbon through.

As complicated as this looks, it actually took only about an hour to make all together...one of the benefits of using a Scrapping kit as everything you need is there and already co-ordinates! I think that it would make a great gift to commemorate a special occasion like a wedding, engagement or birthday and could easily be made with 12x12 card stock, DSP and co-ordinating stamps and embellishments. It was a lot of fun to make, and Amy's instructions are really easy to follow, so go check it out. She also has a lot of other great projects that I hope to get time to make soon.

On another note, I've recently *discovered* a new blog that I'm absolutely loving called Understand Blue. Lydia is not only very talented, but also extremely funny and constantly cracks me up! I suggest you go check out her work as well...though I do advise not reading her stuff with a mouthful of anything, or it will end up all over your keyboard (go on, ask me how I know this).

Hope you are all having a fantastic day,
Kristie

Completely Random Sunday #3

Last week I confessed that I did not watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics. I am glad to report that I was NOT the only person to have missed it, there are other people out there who didn't see it either and this made me feel much better! However, I do have to admit that I've been watching some of the swimming. The main reason for this is that I am insanely patriotic about Australia and swimming is the one sport in which we are guaranteed to get medals!! I love seeing Australia win!!

However, the one person who really has impressed me over the last week is Michael Phelps. That guy is truly amazing. His ability in the pool is beyond compare and I imagine in 50 years time I will be able to tell all my great nieces and nephews that I saw every single one of his record breaking swims and cheered him all the way....even if he is an American. I love that he has achieved so much, although I am not so secretly hoping that Australia puts an end to his dream of getting 8 gold medals at one Olympics by kicking butt in the medley relay today....sorry to my American friends, but losing would probably be a good character building experience for him...LOL!!

Anyway, this brings me to the actual topic of today's random post....TALENT!!!. It's a strange and rather elusive thing, talent. Everyone has talents, things that they are good at, that they do better than other people, and generally these things give one pleasure. I never thought that I was very talented at anything...I really believed that I was rather average. I am NOT good at sport, I can't swim very well (mostly because I hate putting my face under water), and as much as I would like to be good at art, that is drawing and painting, I am not. However, not long after I started at uni, I discovered that I have a talent for learning languages. I never knew I possessed such a gift before this, mostly because I had never had the opportunity to try. But I find that it comes relatively easily for me, despite the fact that I was over 30 and that's supposed to make it more difficult. But compared to others in my language classes, I found the process easy...it just made sense to me and I rarely struggled for understanding. I also learned that I write rather well...my grades for essays have encouraged this belief and if you don't agree then take it up with the markers!! I probably won't ever write a best selling novel...but you never know :)

Earlier this year my darling sister introduced me to the world of stamping and card making. Having seen a lot of amazingly talented people's work, I don't believe that I am supremely talented in this area, but having put my creations here on my blog and received lots of lovely comments, I have come to think that maybe I'm not too bad. I realise and accept that I am never going to paint a masterpiece, but I can create small works of art that can be sent off in an envelope to (hopefully) brighten someone's day. I have some small talent.

This has even led me to believe that perhaps I have other talents too. My question for you today is this: what are your talents? I know that most of you who read my blog are crafters and I assume that you have talent in this area....what I'm talking about here are your other talents...I know you have them and I want to know what they are. So, leave a comment, tell me what you are good at...don't be shy, because mostly we are our own worst critics and we have been taught that it's somehow wrong to say that we are good at something. but the thing is, if someone like Michael Phelps, who has achieved so much, did not believe in himself and his gifts as an athlete then he certainly would never have amazed the world by his achievements.

I will leave you with a quote from the incredible Nelson Mandela's inaugural speech, and perhaps this might inspire us all to believe that we do have the right to shine, to show the world (even if it is just our own small section of it) that we have gifts, talent, and are powerful beyond our own self-limiting beliefs.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Have a beautiful day,
Kristie

Stampers are the NICEST people!!!

Back on the 30th of July I saw the most amazing card on Stef's blog. I just loved it so much that I left a comment *joking* that if the card needed a new home, then it could come and live at my house! Well, imagine my surprise when I received an email from Stef asking for my address and saying that she would send me the card. Yesterday this arrived in my mailbox:I can't even begin to tell you how much more stunning it is in real life and now it has a special place on my window sill with my favourite card from Lauren. I just love the generosity of Stef in sending me such an amazing creation, and if you have never seen her work before then I'd urge you to go have a look, because each and every piece of work she does is INGENIOUS!! I always look forward to seeing what she has come up with.

The second thing I have to show you today is a card that I do not like!! So, why am I showing you? Well, it's because it's my second attempt at doing this colour challenge that I set for the Cyberstamp on Wednesday and I haven't liked either one...however, I hate this one marginally less than the other one. It really was difficult!!
I used one of Julee's Anni-Verve-sary sketches...#2 to be exact and looking now I realise that I've left off one of the elements! Never mind, this card is destined for the *box* where all the bad cards live. I'm only posting it here to show that I did complete all of my own challenges. It's Choc Chip, Sahara Sand, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink and Soft Sky. These colours should work well together but I do think there is one colour too many.

Right, I'm off to have a try at making this awesome 'Flip Book' that I found on Amy Celona's site....very, very cool. Might have something to show you next week....

I'll be back tomorrow for Completely Random Sunday, so I'll talk with you then. Have a fantastic day,
Kristie

Embellished

As I mentioned yesterday, *some* people (you know who you are!) found the idea of having 3 different embellishments on their cards rather difficult, so to accommodate them rub ons were included as an embellishment. *Some* people even claimed that without rub ons they didn't even HAVE 3 different kinds of embellishment, and further suggested that I may own every kind of embellishment that SU makes! Let's just get one thing clear here....I have every TYPE, but not every colour...yet! There are a few more things coming in my latest order that will improve the situation, but I still won't have everything...LOL! I should also admit to having a *few* non-SU things and should probably be grateful that my nearest LSS is a 20 min train ride away!!!

Enough blather...on to the card:
If you were paying the least bit of attention when looking at this card, you would have counted FIVE different types of embellishment (when you include the rub on sentiment).....see girls, it really wasn't much of a challenge at all....LOL!!! The embellishments are, of course, the large flower from the Pretties kit, which is coloured Ballet Blue, the Ballet Blue button in the centre, 3 cute little So Saffron brads (thanks to Santa), the So Saffron narrow grosgrain ribbon and the rub on 'Thank You' from "A Perfect Day". I think one could probably even count the little Saffron punched flower in the centre of the large one too....it's certainly embellishing the flower in my opinion!! (It was made with the Boho Blossom punch). So there you go, it's super easy to include lots of embellishments on a card without it looking too over the top....isn't it?

The other details of the card: the cardstock is Ballet Blue, Night of Navy, So Saffron and Very Vanilla. Inks used were Ballet Blue, Night of Navy and So Saffron, and the stamp set was Baroque Motifs. The swirl was first stamped in Ballet Blue and then again in Night of Navy just off kilter (well that's the way I think of it) and I lined it up using the Stamp-a-ma-jig. It gives a rather nice shadow effect and I've seen it done on a lot of different blogs and have been wanting to try it out for myself. So, it's not BLURRY photography...it's meant to look like that...LOL!

I did make a card last night using the colour combo I posted yesterday, but looking at it in the light of day I hate it and it needs some serious alteration before I am willing to exhibit it in public, so maybe tomorrow???

Have a great day,
Kristie

Cyberstamp and Paperpiecing

Last night we had our monthly cyberstamp for Alisa's team. Unfortunately Alisa wasn't able to run the challenge this month due to other commitments and so she asked for a volunteer to set the challenges....guess who put their hand up? If you guessed me you would be right! I actually had lots of fun making up challenges for the girls to do....the first one was very interesting. Those of you who are regular readers may recall my horror last month when Alisa issued a challenge that limited embellishments on the card to just ONE! That was so hard for me...cause I'm a bit addicted to my embellishments...you might have noticed! So my first challenge was to use at least 3 DIFFERENT types of embellishment on a card. Some people apparently found this as difficult as I found being limited to just one....LOL! My card isn't actually finished yet...I kept getting distracted by the swimming. Hopefully I'll have it to show you tomorrow.

The second challenge I issued was called "Pretend to be Alisa". Alisa is FAMOUS for her amazing skill at water colouring and so the challenge was to do a card with water colouring on it. As I knew in advance that this would be one of the challenges, I did this card for Gran's birthday:
I realised afterward that it would actually qualify for the first challenge as it does have 3 different embellishments on it; ribbon, brads and the ribbon slider from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge. The image is from "Bloomin' with Beauty" and I coloured it with a number of different mediums. I used Bashful Blue Watercolour Crayons to wash over the flowers, before highlighting the centres and parts of the blossoms with the Bashful Blue marker. The leaves were coloured with Mellow Moss ink from the lid of the ink pad and the pot was coloured in the same way with So Saffron ink. I outlined the whole image with a Sahara Sand marker to make it pop (thanks Alisa for that great advice!). It's mounted on some Bashful Blue cardstock then onto a piece of Le Jardin DSP which is also on Blue CS. The card base is So Saffron. I thought that it just looked so pretty the way it was I didn't put a sentiment on it.

The third challenge I issued was a colour combo, which I haven't done yet either. I went to the SU colour combo site and hit "Surprise Me" and it came up with this interesting combination: Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Soft Sky and Sahara Sand. The challenge is that you have to use at least 4 of the colours and while you can add a neutral it must be kept to a minimum. If you want to play along with any of the challenges just leave a link on this post to your creations.

Finally I just wanted to show you this cute little Baby card that I made the other night with my brand new "Celebrate Everyday" set from the mini catty. This was one of the 3 free sets I got to choose for making my first Stampin' Start...I love Stampin' Up, they are really generous to their demos that's for sure.

I paper-pieced the cute little elephant with some of the Pretty in Pink DSP I got from my Secret Santa and used the reverse side of the polka dot for the background. The other colours are Regal Rose and Whisper White, with a bit of Pretty in Pink ribbon and three white half back pearls from the Pretties kit to finish it off.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one either, but I guess I'll stick it in the stash until someone I know has a little girl!!

Ok, this ended up being a really long post, so I'd better go and do some work. Hope you all have a great day,
Kristie

Card of the Week #2

For this weeks card I decided to use the colour challenge Alisa put up on her blog last Friday.

The colours were: So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava and Whisper White. I love all of these colours and together they are really soft and pretty. Here's the card that I made:
I've used 'Always' from the new Mini catty, continuing the theme of using different sets from this catty for these Card of the Week creations. I've stamped the bird in VersaMark and embossed it in White, the Soft Sky piece was scalloped with the Slit Punch, the brad in the middle of the 'a' in the punched circle panels is from the "Styled Silver" Hodgepodge Hardware, and the ribbon is the delicious Guava woven loop from the "Sherbet" Ribbon Originals.

Hope you are all have a fabulous day,
Kristie

Santa was so good to me...

...Secret Santa that is! Recently we participated in a Secret Santa swap with the girls from Alisa Tilsner's team. It was so much fun to get a person to buy for and to choose items from their wish list, make a card and package it up and send it off. This is a picture of the card and parcel that I sent to my SS recipient, pretty isn't it?And this is the loot that I received in my parcel...I was very, very excited! This is probably not the best picture, but I got a beautiful card, a Colour Spritzer (that's the black thingy for those who were wondering), some Rich Regals brads, some 6x6 DSP and in that cute little bag at the back was an assortment of buttons, twill ribbon, rhinestone brads and photo corners. There WAS also some chocolate...it's not in the picture because most of it is already gone....mmmm hazelnuts!!!OK then, enough about Santa. This is a card that I made over the weekend. I made it for 2 reasons...because I wanted to use some of the cute goodies in the Collage Kit that the wonderful Miss June sent me and I wanted to make a card with Kraft cardstock (something I hadn't done before). I thought that the Kraft went very nicely with the pale lemon ribbon and roses from the collage kit, so I went with So Saffron and Mellow Moss for accents. The gold heart charm, ribbon and cream and lemon roses are from the kit, the stamped heart is from Always and embossed in gold to match the charm. The background is stamped in gold ink with the little hearts from Sprinkles and the 'Everything' sentiment from Always is stamped in Mellow Moss.
I'm not entirely sure what I'll ever use this for but I think it's rather pretty anyway!

Right then, it's almost time for the swimming to start...it's the only sport of the Olympics that I watch seriously, though I don't mind gymnastics and equestrian events, the rest of it is kinda take it or leave it for me. Oh, except I quite enjoy watching the rowers....all those yummy muscles....LOL!

Have a great day,
Kristie

Completely Random Sunday #3

Good morning everyone! This morning I'm afraid that I have to make a confession: I did not stay up and watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics! There, I've said it.
Now, according to *some* people this is a particularly heinous crime against humanity, or at the very least incomprehensible. However, I had a very long day and was tired and so I just went to bed. I don't have tivo, or DVR, or any device capable of recording television (this may also be construed as a crime by some), so I was not able to record it to watch it later.
In my defense I must say that I KNEW that the highlights would be available to watch on the Internet, and that during the course of the Olympic coverage they would show the best bits over and over again. In fact, just while watching the heats of the swimming last night I am quite certain that I have already seen most of the best bits!
BUT, everyone whom I have told that I did not watch it and just went to bed has been completely horrified and appalled..."How could you not watch it?" they have asked in anguished tones. "Easy", I replied, "I just turned the TV off and went to sleep." For this I have received looks that might have suggested that I murdered my grandmother and hocked all her jewelry to buy illicit substances.....seriously!!
So, if there is anyone else out there who also refrained from being subjected to hours and hours of boringly obvious commentary, please let me know so that I can use you as additional justification for my decision.

Have a great Sunday,
Kristie

Inspiration Participants and the card winner

Thanks to the girls who participated in my inspiration challenge...here are the 3 cards that have been submitted so far. If you still want to play just submit a comment and I'll feature your card here. So, on to the entries. This first card is by Cath Willett. Cath does some gorgeous work and you should go check it out!This stunner of a card is from my wonderful blogging friend Nikki. She not only makes fabulous cards, she is also one of the nicest ladies I've met in my on-line travels...and I'm not just saying that because she's sending me a copy of the new US catty to drool over!
And last, but certainly not least is this delightful creation by the amazing Miss Treez. I really do have some lovely and awesomely talented friends!
Finally, Miss Treez was also the winner of the t-shirt inspired card!!!! YAY Treez! Although it does seem slightly unfair as I went and bought her the t-shirts themselves and sent them off to her this week! Anyway, I did use Random.org, but being technologically challenged I don't know how to do the print screen thingy....so you'll just have to take my word for it :)
I'll get that card out to you asap Treez.

Right, I'm off to do some creating of my own. It's my Gran's birthday next weekend and I need to make a suitably fabulous card for her. She's going to be 88 this year, which I think is totally amazing! So, I'll be slaving away for hours to get it just perfect...although as the beloved "Golden Child" anything I make is sure to be appreciated....right Mad? ;)

Have a wonderful day and I'll see you all tomorrow for Completely Random Sunday.
Kristie

Kristina Werner's Colour Inspiration #18

Kristina posted a new Colour Inspiration Challenge today....using my least favourite colour, Pumpkin Pie. Sorry Kristina, but you do seem to use that colour a lot! Anyway, here is the inspiration piece:
And here's my card:Anyway, it's pretty basic...Basic Black Card base, Green Galore layer, Pumpkin Pie die cut bloom, Black scallop circle, Rose Red 1 3/8" circle and an orange rhinestone brad. The sentiment is from A Perfect Day rub ons and the corners have been rounded with the corner rounder.

As much as I was disheartened when I first saw this colour combo, I'm actually quite happy with the way it turned out...rather *Summer* to go with my theme for the week.

Thanks for looking,
Kristie

Hi & 3BT

The other night I had some fun with the Spring Fling DSP. The colours in this paper are so pretty and fresh...really very cheerful. June commented on yesterdays post that the colours were very *Autumn*, so today I decided to show you stuff with a *Spring* feel....then I just need to do something for Winter and Summer and we'll have the four seasons covered...LOL!The colours in the Spring Fling DSP are Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink and Sage Shadow, and I've used them all in last Saturday's sketch from i {heart} 2 stamp. The 'hi' is made from 'On Board Lots of Letters', which were coloured with Pretty in Pink ink and then covered in Crystal Effects to make them shiny. I wanted to make a cheery HI card after seeing the awesome ones Madonna made the other day...my sister is a constant source of inspiration for me and I love to try out the ideas I get from her blog. The row of little dotted circles on the sentiment panel are a stamp from 'One of a Kind' inked in Celery and the background Sage panels are stamped with the flowers from Boho Backgrounds in Celery ink as well. The silver brads and ribbon slider come from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge, and the ribbon is narrow Celery grosgrain.

While I had that DSP out I decided to finally cover my *three beautiful things* journal. You can see the original 3BT here.
I've used Celery, White and Pretty in Pink CS with the Spring Fling DSP. There are a couple of Pink buttons on the circles down the bottom and the letters and number 3 are again from the 'On Board Lots of Letters', this time covered in Celery CS and then Crystal Effects. At the top I've punched a hole through the far left circle and put in a Jumbo Pewter eyelet using the trust Crop-o-dile...that thing will punch through anything...it went through the chipboard cover, Celery CS and DSP like butter!! I've threaded through a length of Pretty in Pink Taffeta ribbon and tied a knot to keep it in place....and if you look very closely you'll see a clear rhinestone brad attached to the bottom of the ribbon. That's my permanent bookmark, so I can easily find the page I'm up to.

The whole concept of 3BT, for those of you not familiar with it, is to write down three beautiful things about your day, every day. It only takes a few minutes to do, but you soon find that you spend more time looking out for beauty and niceness in the world, and it actually makes you feel happier every single day! Of course my journal is not in the same league as Lauren's creations...as yet mine are just writing, no stuff stuck in, but as I've been keeping a journal since I was about 14, I find that really easy to do. I'll save the *art* stuff for the other areas of my creative life!

Right then, better stop playing around and go do some *real* work....unfortunately :(

Have a fantastic day,
Kristie

Card of the Week

As I mentioned yesterday, it's my turn to do the Card of the Week for the whole of August. Every Wednesday for this month I will be showing a card that I've made using *mostly* products from the new mini catty. I started with a sketch from Our Creative Corner, which I tried to load up here but for some reason blogger won't play nice! But you can click on the link to go see it. And here's my card:I started out knowing I wanted to use the new 'Apple Cider' DSP from the mini and so I took my colours from that; Choc Chip, Really Rust, River Rock and Wild Wasabi. The ribbon is from the 'Beachfront' ribbon originals and the sentiment is a rub on from 'Eastern Elegance', which is also in the mini. The stamp in the medallion in the centre is from 'A Beautiful Thing', which co-ordinates with the rub ons and was stamped with white craft ink. The medallion was made with the scallop, 1 3/8" & 1 1/4" punches. The little circles of River Rock CS were punched out with the 1/2" circle punch and the itty bitty flowers also come from the rub ons pack. I've also used the corner rounder on the sentiment panel.

The wavy line was made using a metal scrapbooking ruler and a craft knife and the paper used on the card is from one double sided sheet, showing both sides at once...cause it's just too hard to choose one! I really love this DSP, there are so many cute prints and I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of it.

Right, well I'd better go now, because last night I had the brilliant idea of rearranging my room so that my craft desk was closer to the window and to try and make more space for my growing collection of crafty stuff. I got all the major moving around done, but I still have a lot of tidying up and organising of bits and pieces to do. *TIP: Do not decided to rearrange furniture and tear your room apart at 6pm in the evening or you will wake up to an unholy mess the next day ;)

Have a great day....I might even be back later and show you some pictures of my newly organised space....just so you can take pity on me for have to work in such a tiny area!!!

Kristie

Madonna's crazy colour combos

My darling sister launched Operation Inspiration last week and challenged us to make cards based on these two tissue boxes that she'd been staring at all week.I found this to be a very difficult challenge, basically because the people who design tissue boxes are clearly deranged and have absolutely no colour sense whatsoever! I choose the second one to use as my inspiration because the top one just has too many colours that should NOT be used together!! I'm still not certain about the bottom one, but here's the card I made anyway.The colours Mad suggested for this one were: Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Orchid Opulence, Green Galore and Whisper White. I've used Certainly Celery, Orchid Opulence, and Green Galore CS, and Rose Red DSP. The rub ons are from Cherished Memories and are the White component of the combo. I've also used the corner rounder for the scalloped edge, the scallop punch and the 1 3/8 & 1 1/4 circle punches, and some Celery grosgrain ribbon. It turned out ok, but it's definitely not a combination that I would ever have come up with on my own!

OK, that's it for now. I was going to show you the card I made for Alisa's colour challenge, but after looking at it again I've decided that I'm not completely happy with it and it needs some *adjustment*.

This month I'm doing the "Card of the Week" for Alisa's forum and it goes up on Wednesdays, so I thought that I would share it with you here as well, seeing as it's a locked forum and you wouldn't get to see it otherwise and I rather like it. So come back tomorrow for that one!!

Bye for now
Kristie

Naughty, naughty BLOGGER

Blogger is being very bad today and won't let me load up the pictures of some of the gazillion creations I have made over the last few days. I am not the only person having this problem, because some of the blogs I regularly visit have reported the same thing.

Blogger is making me very unhappy at the moment and if it doesn't get it's act together I will change over to another blog site....yes blogger people...this insurrection will not be tolerated!! How are my adoring fans supposed to get their fix if there's nothing for them to see? They don't come here for the scintillating nature of my writing!! They want to see crafty items...they want to know how I made them!!

And I have been rather productive lately...it's called avoiding reading stuff that is currently boring the heck out of me and trying desperately not to feel homesick! Craft is such good therapy for all kinds of ailments! I am particularly proud of a few of my latest creations and am dying to show them off so you can all tell me how fabulous I am....how will I ever cope without your wonderful and supportive comments to boost my faltering ego?

See what's happened already...I've gone off on a ranting tangent and if I don't stop now something dreadful is bound to occur!!

OK...will try again later to load some pictures...if it doesn't work then I'm going to get really cross and anyone who knows me IRL will tell you THAT IS NOT A GOOD THING!!!

Have a lovely, peaceful day my friends
Kristie

T-shirt inspired card

Those of you who saw the awesome $3 t-shirts I got in my shopping spree that I posted about yesterday will recognise the elements of this card. Not only did I love them, but I'm going back to the shop today to try and get a couple for my sister and Miss Treez...won't we look cute all wearing matching shirts? Anyway, I loved the design so much that I decided to make this card:I've used a Basic Black card base and Basic Gray for the layer. I got out the So Swirly wheel and wheeled over the Gray with Black ink. Then I embossed the butterflies and dragonflies with White and Black embossing powders on vellum CS and cut them out. The big dragonfly is from Bugs and Kisses, the black butterflies are from Time Well Spent, and the small dragonflies and butterflies are from A Little Bit of Happiness. Both of the last two mention sets are Hostess sets. I finished it off with a rub on sentiment from the Urban West rub ons on Black CS and some narrow Black grosgrain ribbon.

Once I'd embossed and cut out all the dragonflies and butterflies it was really rather quick to make....but the embossing and cutting out was a bit time consuming! I did emboss extra ones as I have plans to make a few more of these. I am also thinking about making a small canvas to hang on my wall....yes, I really do love this design!

I love it so much that I'm going to give it away!! Yes, that's right. Any other cards that I make won't have the same sentiment, because I only had the one in white, though I could do one with the sentiment in black on some gray CS I suppose. Anyway, if you want this card all you have to do is leave a comment on this post by Wednesday night, and on Thursday I will randomly draw a winner and send it to them. The inside of the card has a piece of white CS with some decorative bits, so that you can write a message and it also comes with a decorated envelope {well, it will once I decorate it!!}.

Everyone is eligible to enter....there is no discrimination tolerated here!!! So, leave me a comment and this card can be yours!

Have a great day,
Kristie

Completely Random Sunday

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Completely Random Sunday (CRS) #2. Today's post is brought to you by retail therapy!!

Once upon a time, way back before I went to uni, I used to work in retail. I KNOW how big a markup there is on clothing and therefore I NEVER EVER buy clothes, or shoes, at full price. It's completely ridiculous....especially when, if you wait til the sales are on, you can get things at what they're really worth! My housemate, Caren, is totally impressed with my shopping prowess and has even asked me to teach her to shop!! She told me when I got home yesterday, carrying 6 bags full of bargains, that what I accomplished in a little over 2 hours would have taken her all day! However, there are a few tricks to commando style shopping that I will share with you, before some gratuitous boasting about my bargains!

First thing, go early before the shops get crowded...by the time I left to come home yesterday it was complete insanity in the Mac Centre. Secondly, don't try stuff on. By the time you get to my age you should already know what suits you, and if you have worked in retail, or just done a lot of shopping, you should be able to judge whether something will fit just by looking at it. If it doesn't fit, or looks completely shite once you get it home...well then you just return it. And the third thing, have a plan. Know what you are looking for and where you can find it! That way you don't waste time going into stores where you are not going to buy anything. For me, this means keeping clear of the more expensive stores. My student budget precludes shopping in stores where a t-shirt costs $50! That's just never going to happen!

Now, on to the boasting. While I didn't take photos of all the goodies I bought, I did want to show you these 2 tees. They cost me the grand sum of $2.99 each. No, that is not a typo. I loved them soooo much! I was standing there trying to decided whether I liked the gray, or the black better and then realised that at three bucks I could have both, so I did.

How cute are those dragonflies and butterflies? I am so going to make a card based on these later on today....I LOVE 'EM!!!!

I also bought two cardigans, one in Very Vanilla, with a hood, and the other in Basic Gray...it's really long, down to above the knee, for the whopping sum of $12.95 each! I also got a $90 pair of jeans for $22.50, and a bunch of long sleeve tees for $10 each: pink, purple, gray marle, leaf green, and this cute pinkish purplish colour called Dahlia! I got a $40 hot pink cardi from Myer (fancy dept store for the foreigners) for $15, and a cute black one for $9. Oh, and I got a nice pair of Basic Gray track pants for $8.

So, why don't you leave me a comment and tell me your best shopping bargain? I love to hear about fantastic bargains...makes me feel good that the people that charge such exorbitant prices have to mark stuff down so much, and that someone gets something that they wouldn't have otherwise!

Have a great day wherever you are, and I'll be back tomorrow to show you some more papercraft stuff...until then, happy shopping!

Kristie

Inspiration #2

Well, I said that I was not entirely happy with my first card that I made for the inspiration challenge, so I tried again.... It kind of looked like the flower on the right was coming out of the bird's head...of course it was stuck down pretty hard, though I did manage to fix it so that I was a little more satisfied, but it still seemed kind of...bland. Anyway, here is attempt #2:I stuck with basically the same colour scheme, minus the choc chip CS...so there's Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White CS and the same for inks. I did use a Choc Chip marker to ink up the branches from Spring Solitude....this time minus the leaves, because when the magnolia is in flower there aren't any leaves!! The Pink BG is stamped with the French Script BG stamp in Pomegranate....but in a vintage-y kind of style (thanks Ange for the tips on how to do that!). I tried a few different techniques to do the flowers from Bodacious Bouquet...a couple are stamped in Pink and Pomegranate and afterward had the tips smeared with white ink. The 2 at the front were inked up with the different colours, one was swooshed around with the aqua painter and the other just the top was smeared with Pink and the bottom with Pomegranate.

The delicious ribbon is the Pomegranate satin that's available in the Mini catty (please notice that I did a better job with the bow this time!), and the sentiment is a rub on from Cherished Memories. The little half back white pearls come from the Pretties kit. There's also some sponging and inking of the edges. I don't think this one is very suitable for sending in the mail, but I am rather happy with it. It's still not perfect, but I think it's not too bad for a first attempt at a more vintage style.

I hope to be back later in the day with a couple of other challenge cards that I'm working on. I'm trying out a few different styles this week and it's a bit of a challenge for me not to just do *clean & simple*...but I'm working on it!!! I do have to go and do some shopping first though....the sales are calling to me :)

Tomorrow will be the next installment in what I've decided to call *Completely Random Sunday*. After giving you some quotes from Terry Pratchett last week, I've decided that every Sunday I will do a post that is not related to paper crafting....the horror of it!!! But, the catch is that you never know just what you'll get...so check in tomorrow to find out what randomness I've come up with for this week.

Have a fabulous day
Kristie

Inspiration #1

I have to start by saying I'm NOT completely happy with this card...it's ok, but not really where I wanted to go. But I wanted to show you that I'm trying to do something for my own challenge!
I've used Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White card stock. The flowers are from Bodacious Bouquet, don't they look a lot like magnolias? The branch and the bird are from the Spring Solitude Hostess set. The bird is done in Pomegranate and the branch was inked up with Choc Chip and Old Olive markers. The flowers I coloured by sponging the inks directly onto the stamp, Pomegranate, Pink and White, then stamping it onto Whisper White CS and then cutting them out. They're popped up on Dimensionals. The ribbon is delicious Choc Chip satin from the Theatre ribbon originals. My bow tying skills definitely need some work!!!

Right, so that's attempt #1. I shall try again and be back tomorrow with another go at it! It's gotten really overcast and miserable here, so I'm going to have a little nana nap and hopefully inspiration will strike while I sleep....it does happen occasionally!

Ciao
Kristie

New Spring Mini

Over the last few weeks I've showed you some cards that I've made with sets from the new Spring Mini Catalogue. Well, it goes on sale today and you can view it here. If you are interested in anything from the catty, please contact me.

Now I've gotten the businessy thing out of the way, I just wanted to tell you that I will be back later on today {fingers crossed} with my card from my inspiration challenge. Madonna is also launching an Operation Inspiration over on her blog and this week her inspiration is from tissue boxes...yes she's had a cold! Poor baby! I'm not sure when that will be up on her site, but she sent us all an email with the pics and I've already gotten a few ideas.

I haven't done much craft this week...the nasty weather has made my dodgy back very cross ...my doctor who gives me acupuncture says that the Chinese have a saying about the wind that gets into your bones....we've had that wind here for the last week or so and I have to admit I feel like I'm about 100 or so. But, there's nothing like some delish choc biscuits and some crafty fun to improve your mood.

Have a wonderful day,
Kristie