Moving to the country…

Yep, that is this weeks challenge at Magnolia Down Under Challenges. However, if you go over there to check out the DT’s cards you won’t see mine. Why???, you ask…well, because I hadn’t even taken a photo of it, much less sent that to Kellie to post on the blog. I have been a little unwell the past few days, but that’s no excuse for just plain forgetfulness!!!! I really need to get myself a little better organised and out of this holiday mindset! Anyway, I have now taken a picture and sent it to Kellie and I can show it to you here at least.

Just a brief forward on this card…I first saw this theme on the list of challenges many weeks ago, even before I moved and it had me thinking about how I was moving to the country myself. I only made this card earlier in the week and I don’t really have any *country* type Tildas (though I have a suitcase stamp coming that would have been perfect for this one), so I improvised. The sentiment is my hope for myself with this move to the country :)

I’ve used Sitting Tilda (coloured with Copics), *As Lovely As A Tree* from SU! and the sentiment comes from the hostess set *Best Yet*. My fence is a bit dodgy…I hope you can tell that’s what it’s meant to be! The big flower is from the Pretties kit and coloured with a Not Quite Navy marker and the little felt flower is from Flower Fusion Too in Pink Pirouette. The CS is Not Quite Navy, Kraft and Chocolate Chip. The string is some I had out for something else and it occurred to me that it would look cute :)

OK, that about wraps it up. As usual if you have an questions let me know. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend,

It’s CASEd…

Mama bought a stamping magazine the other week and as she was going through it she looked at one of the cards in there and commented that it wouldn’t be hard to make that….so I did:

I should go and find the magazine, but I have no idea where it is….everything is such a turmoil with the craft room makeover I don’t even know where to start looking :) The colours are not very good in this picture, it’s Not Quite Navy, Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss and Whisper White. The blossoms and sentiment are from Artfully Asian, but I can’t remember which butterfly I used. The Hodgepodge hardware is Antique Brass and the ribbon is the lovely Kiwi/Vanilla double sided satin.

This was a really quick card to do actually…probably helped that I was just copying a picture, but I think it turned out quite pretty.

Speaking about the craft room mess…I have a sneak peak of the corner of the room just after the carpet was laid yesterday:

Here you can see the wall colours and the carpet. The room is at the front of the house which faces North, so it gets a lot of lovely sunshine and is very bright and airy.

Finally a quick Jethro photo :) Here he is playing silly dog games with Mama’s dog (the Pokey Little Puppy):

They have completely ruined that toy…but it doesn’t stop them playing with it! Sometimes I think Pokey should really be called *Destructo Dog*…he is incredibly good and tearing stuff to little pieces :)

Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m glad it’s Friday…even though I really don’t need a weekend as such, I always feel more relaxed on Saturdays than other days :) Hope you all have a great weekend,

Is it really Thursday already?

Hey there! I can’t believe how the time keeps getting away from me and before I know it another week is almost over! Yesterday I had to go to the doctor for some prescriptions and then down town to collect them. The chemist was busy and I had to go back in 20 mins…which gave me ample time to go shopping and spend a ton of money! Seriously, how does that happen????

Anyway, you’re not here to listen to me whine about boring everyday stuff…you’re here for the cards, right? Today’s card is one that I made last week but haven’t got around to showing you yet…I do have to admit that I had to go to my own blog and check if I’d shown this one yet! I must be getting old or something :) I made this one the same time as the one I cased from Mad using the Bella DSP and Friends 24/7. While I had the stamps out I thought I’d make one with my own DP made from the Damask stamp in the set:

The BG was a little time consuming as I had to use the stamp-a-ma-jig to make sure that it was all lined up properly, but I think the effort was worth it to get perfectly matching DP for any card. I’ve used Vanilla CS for the DP as well as the image and sentiment panels, with Riding Hood Red and Choc Chip layers. The ribbon is the wide Choc Satin (sooo yummy!) and the Old Olive brads pick up the colour of the branch leaves. I really liked how this one turned out…classic and elegant I think…maybe I was channeling Miss June :)

Anyway I better run…the carpet man has miraculously decided the come put in the carpet this afternoon and I will be busy putting things away in the craft room later :) I promise some before and after photos very soon. Oh yeah, and some Jethro pics. I haven’t downloaded them from the camera yet…oops! Tomorrow???

Hope your Thursday is fantastic…and a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Madonna (and her twin brother Shaun). Click on her name to go over to her blog and wish her a happy birthday ;)

A DSP love affair…

It’s true, anyone who reads this blog regularly should know how much I love my DSP :) And this month SU! tempted me beyond the point of resistance with a special offer of buy 3 get one free. So I went halves with Madonna in 4 packs and halves with Mama in another 4…yes, I have 8 half packs of DSP to play with, and instead of hoarding it I decided that I would use it! I made myself a challenge to make a minimum of one card using every single pack of DSP at least once. I have made tons of cards already, but yesterday I had another thought (dangerous I know!)…how many cards could you make using one 1/2 pack of DSP and the matching cardstock and stamp set??? It would be interesting to know, but I was thwarted from my plan by the arrival of the Australia Post delivery man with a lovely big box of more SU! goodies and I was drawn off into the dangerous territory of new toys :)

So I thought that today, as the first in a series of posts with cards using DSP, I would show you the two I made yesterday using *Urban Oasis* and the 5th Ave Floral.

I just love this colour combination of Baja Breeze, Basic Black and Whisper White. It’s very cool and elegant. I lived dangerously with this one and stamped my sentiment straight onto the DSP after the rest of the card was already assembled!!! I decided that it was ok to use extra sentiment sets in my card making experiment ;)

This one is pretty straightforward, but if you have any questions leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you.

This next card also uses Basic Black, with some Kiwi Kiss this time:

The black DSP is from the pack, but the Kiwi panel was stamped with the flower from the stamp set in Basic Black ink. I also added some delicious Kiwi/Vanilla double sided satin ribbon and a Kiwi button from the Button Bouquet. Both of these cards are all SU! Yay me :)

In my parcel of goodies yesterday was one of SU’s 5x5” journals. I’ve wanted a new address book for a while now, and haven’t been able to find something I liked enough to buy that was in my price range, so I decided to make my own! It won’t be in real alphabetical order, but I don’t mind that as I can usually find what I’m looking for without that. Anyway, enough babble…here it is after some alteration with *Sweet Always* DSP:

I had that big letter *K* for a while…it’s from Bazzill and I have wanted the perfect project to use it on and this is it :) It’s small enough to go in my handbag, but big enough to find easily…I just have to put all my names and addresses into it now…*sigh*….

OK, this was a pretty big post…I hope you stuck with me til the end :) I hope that I will have some new Jethro photos for you tomorrow…he’s getting so big! He’s such a sook too…he loves to sleep on my feet! This is where he was this morning…

Like my stripey jammy pants? LOL! I hope you all have a lovely Tuesday…

Under the Sea

Just a quick post tonight for the Magnolia Down Under Challenge card…it’s suddenly much later than I’d realized! I went bold, bright and glittery for my take on the theme:

I’ve used the Mermaid Tilda along with a Pink Passion crab from Fishy Friends and a large seashell in VersaMark from Seaside. The colours are Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Orchid Opulence and Tempting Turquoise. The glitter is the new Supernova glitter in blue and pink :) {Yes, it is everywhere all over the house}.

Gotta run and get dinner started…chat to you soon,

Drama, delays and a pretty card in blue….

I’m not sure that the subjects of my title actually have anything in common, but it becomes increasingly more difficult to come up with titles for my posts :) There has been a great deal of drama here this week with plumbing problems of the yucky kind…and do you think Mama could find a plumber to come fix it??? One guy had a message on his mobile phone saying he was booked out til after CHRISTMAS!!!! WHAT THE??? Seriously…I should have been a plumber :) Right at this moment my poor brother is up to his elbow in tree roots on his day off. Mum’s just lucky that he’s handy like that! I am in charge of drinks and food ;) I’m afraid that’s about all I’m capable of!

The delay is with finishing the craft room make over. Mama has decided rather than a DIY job on the floor, she is going to have some carpet laid. However, the guy can’t come for three weeks. I guess no one told Warwick’s tradesmen that there is a recession on. So, the walls are trims are painted, everything is ready to go in and now we just need to wait for the carpet guy. I will have updates as we progress :)

Finally on to the card. I whipped this one up yesterday, with some Bella Bleu papers, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla and Kraft CS and the Friends 24-7 stamp set. For once it’s all SU. Oh yeah and the ribbon is Very Vanilla taffeta.

Jethro sends his thanks for all your well wishes and lovely compliments…his head has gotten almost as big as his fat belly! For those of you who asked, Jethro’s mum was a Kelpie and his dad is *probably* a Blue Cattle Dog…but he doesn’t really look like either. And his eyes are staying blue and look adorable with his soft grey fur. He is in the *I’m a puppy and I’m going to chew everything* mode at the moment. My furry slippers are one of his favourite things to eat…whether they are on my feet or not :) Here’s a gratuitous cute puppy photo…in this shot Jethro is trying to eat his box that he sleeps in out in the sunroom where he can be close to me. He has a proper comfy dog bed in the laundry, but he sometimes likes to just hang out with me :)

Please excuse the cobwebs on his head…I’m not entirely sure where he’d been sticking his nose!

Right then, I’m off to work on the final piece for Mama’s craft room…a Kaiser OTP scrapping desk caddy…it’s painted one of the wall colours and needs to be put together and decorated…

Hope you all have a great weekend,

In holiday mode

I’m not quite sure how the days seem to slip away and before you know it, it’s Wednesday!!! I have been pottering around, definitely still in holiday mode, making stuff, painting things for Mama’s craft room, playing with Jethro and then I blink and 3 days are gone! I am feeling very relaxed though, so that’s a good thing :)

Since I have been missing, I thought I’d make it up to you by showing a couple of things I made. This first one sprang from a card that Madonna made. I really liked the way that she half hid the scalloped circle that the sentiment was on, and so I  grabbed the same stamp set, Friends 24-7, and made this card. Are you flattered Mad?

 

I used some yummy new Bella Rose DSP (SU! is having a buy 3 get one free promotion at the moment, so I stocked up on DSP from the new catty by going halves with Mama and Mad…just so I could get more paper!). The CS is Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss and watercolour paper. I finished it off with some Kiwi striped grosgrain and the sentiment is stamped in Riding Hood Red. Thanks for the inspiration Mad…I love the way this turned out!!!

This one came about from my just having a play with Mama’s new *Inspired by Nature*. I used some Whisper White Cs and stamped the grass in Kiwi Kiss and the flowers in Old Olive , Pale Plum and Perfect Plum. I also sprinkled some yummy purple glitter from Mama’s stash on the flower heads…in real life it’s very sparkly! I stamped the Sentiment in Perfect Plum onto some Pale Plum CS and matted in onto some Perfect Plum, then finished it up with a purple Rhinestone brad in the corner. The ribbon is the new Old Olive striped grosgrain…very, very yummy ribbon it is :) The whole thing was mounted onto a Kiwi card base.

OK, before I go I thought I’d show you another Jethro photo :) He’s growing so much, but the last couple of days have been horrible…windy, overcast and now pouring rain! I shouldn’t complain, because we really need the rain, but it means no fun photo shoots with the puppy playing outside :) Anyway, here he is:

Check out his cute polka dot collar! It’s way too big for him, but I just punched some extra holes with the crop-a-dile! It’s so useful for other things besides crafts :)

OK, I’m going back to my rainy day pottering around. I want to make a card for Kristina Werner’s challenge and my friend Helene has requested a special 50th birthday card as well as some kids birthday cards (her kids go to lots of birthday parties). Hope your Wednesday is wonderful :)

Flutterby

Sorry I didn’t get back yesterday as I had hoped…it was one of those days :) We started off bright and early and went to a few garage sales where we picked up some super bargains. Then, of course, there was lots of outside play time with Jethro and Mama’s dog Pokey (as in the Golden Book stories about the Pokey Little Puppy…he looked just like that when he was a baby) and of course I had to be the bringer of coffee and cold drinks to Mama while she cleaned the floor where she’d pulled up the old carpet and washed the walls in preparation for painting. Then there was all the computer stuff I still have to finish…I’m forever realizing that I am missing a bunch of stuff, it’s really frustrating me….this week I will definitely be going and buying an external hard drive and implementing a regular backup plan for the computer….that way if anything happens I won’t have to go through so much hassle to get it back to *normal*.

OK, you’re not here to listen to me whinge…you’re here for the card, right? This week’s challenge at Magnolia Down Under Challenges is *Flutterby Butterfly*. I had hoped to do another card for this one, as I wasn’t entirely happy with this card, but I ran out of time and so this is what I have to show you:

I’ve used lots of the new in-colours with this one….Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss. The ribbon is the delicious new Riding Hood Red taffeta with a Vanilla edge…just gorgeous. There’s nothing too much to explain with this one…it’s pretty easy, but if you have any questions let me know. Oh, I probably should say that I got the image from Kellie, stamped on watercolour paper and it was coloured with an aquapainter and the ink from the lids of the inkpads.

Right, before I go I thought I would share a gratuitous puppy picture :) It’s so great to see that Jethro is a completely different puppy from the one who arrived here last Monday…his belly is soooooo fat and he has a lot more confidence and I guess it’s contentment :) He is one good puppy too….he’s really smart and learns stuff quickly….like how to tell me he needs to go outside to go…well, you know :) Anyway, here he is:

 

He’s so adorable!

Hope you all have a great Sunday,

MIA

Sorry to have so suddenly disappeared…my hard drive crashed and I had to get a new one….and it’s so bad that the normal methods of retrieving data from the old one won’t work! If I want to get my stuff it might cost as much as $2000!!!! I’m waiting to see if my insurance will cover it, as the hard drive was damaged during the move…so fingers crossed! Most of my stuff is backed up…except for some recent photos and music I downloaded…but if the insurance won’t cough up then it’s gone for good :(

So, please bear with my intermittent appearances over the next few days while I try to get stuff onto the new hard drive. I had a bunch of photos of cards to show you, but I haven’t had the chance to take more photos of them and load them up yet. Hopefully I will have a card related post for you tomorrow….with pictures and everything!

Kristie

A mixed bag…

I have a bunch of things to share with you today. Firstly, an apology for not posting yesterday as promised. It turned into a very busy day with a new addition to the house. Yep, a brand new puppy :) Unfortunately I can’t share the full story here, mostly because it upsets me too much, but my new baby was moments from death when the phone call saved him. My sister-in-law bought him over to me and it was love at first sight! (she wasn’t the one who was going to put him down, but my brother and her had told me about him and I said that I would take him and so she made the call and got him for me) Want to see why????

Isn’t he just adorable? He’s so tiny and sweet…in fact, right now he is asleep on my lap (which is making typing a little tricky). He is really quiet and a little timid right now, but that will soon change when he gets used to the place and he will be into all sorts of puppy mischief no doubt. I think that I might call him Jethro, but I’m not 100% sure….any good suggestions will be considered :)

Next up is the card I made for Mama for Mother’s Day:

This Tilda is one of the ones that Kellie sent me (though I loved it so much I had to order it!) and she is on watercolour paper and coloured with Markers and an aquapainter. The DSP is Pink Pirouette and the cardstock is Pale Plum, Pretty in Pink and Pink Pirouette. The ribbon is the PP striped grosgrain and the cute pink heart button came from Mama’s stash :)

I used the 1 1/4” square punch to punch out the DSP and a white gel pen for the faux stitching. The sentiment is from *Short & Sweet* and punched with the small oval before being layered onto the large oval and the designer label. I’m pretty sure Mama liked it and it’s one of my favourites that I’ve made so far. Actually, I like it so much that when the stamp arrives I might make another one the same :)

Finally, I have received a bunch of blog awards recently that I haven’t shared here…so I’m going to try and remember them all. If I’ve forgotten anyone, please remind me :)

First up is this gorgeous one that Kellie had made specially to give away:

She is so sweet! I love her blog and if you haven’t been there you should go check it out :)

Next up June gave me this one called *The Gift of Love*:

I’m supposed to pass it on to five people, but right now I just don’t have the time….so I *might* get to that later in the week :)

Next up is this great award from Bec. She always makes me smile, so I’d definitely send this one back to her! I’m supposed to give this one to five people too…I’m going to have to sit down and make a list!

Finally, I got this award from Alicia a little while ago and have been very remiss in showing it here:

I’ve gotten this one before, but it’s always nice to get it again!

OK, I think that’s all for today. I got a lovely big box of goodies from SU! yesterday (well some of it was Mama’s but she’s good at sharing) and I’m planning on spending the rest of the day in the craft room. It might be my last chance for this week as we start the big makeover project later in the week. I imagine there will be much chaos before it’s finished. I will keep you all up to date with it’s progress though :)

Hope your Tuesday is terrific,

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #11

This week’s MDUC was set by the lovely Debbie and the theme is *Thinking of You*. Make sure you go check out the DT cards this week…there are some really awesome designs :)

This was the last of the cards I made before I left Sydney, while I was trying to get ahead just in case :) It was a hard one, only because there are so many options for this theme….anyway, this is what I came up with:

I love this citrus-y combination of So Saffron, Kiwi Kiss and Tangerine Tango. The wide striped Saffron grosgrain from one of the ribbon originals packs went perfectly with this one. I also used some of the brand new flower brads from SU! These little brads are actually really heavy and I think you’d need extra postage on this card. The Magnolia image was one of the RAK’s that I received from Kristy.

My Mama is such a bad influence on me…this morning before she went to work I was showing her some of the new Magnolias that are available and before I knew it I had ordered a bunch of new stamps! Some of them are pre-order though and I won’t get them til next month. I also bought a bunch of accessories for the girls…chairs and suitcases…lots of cute things for the sitting ones to perch on!

For all the mothers out there….I hope you have a lovely Mother’s Day and get very, very spoilt :) I made my Mama a lovely card which I will show you tomorrow and bought her some nice Kaiser storage things for her new craft room makeover, which starts later this week. I have been making lots of cards in advance, as the craft room is sure to be completely disorganised for a few days! I can’t wait for the end result though…Mama is going to have the loveliest room and it will be hard getting her out of there! I’m going to set up a blog for her too…I don’t know if she will be posting on there herself or if she’ll make me do it…LOL! But at least she’ll have somewhere to show off all her lovely creations. I’ll give you a link as soon as it’s finished.

I hope you’ll all go over to the MDUC blog and play along with this week’s challenge :)

Kellie’s Blog Candy

I almost forgot to tell you all that the lovely and talented Kellie Winnell is giving away a massive blog candy to celebrate 20, 000 hits on her blog! Want to see what she’s giving away????

This lovely candy includes:

• AMM Tote-ally Cool! Mini Tote 2
• 12 Assorted Stampin’ Up! Summer Picnic *retired*  6×6 papers.
• 12 Assorted Stampin’ Up! Pink Flamingo 6×6 papers.
• 1 Magnolia Spring Stamp
• Sugar Nellie Stamp - Luvvie
• Prima Flowers - Windsor Roses
• Mini Display Easel
• 1 m Stampin’ Up! Double Stitch Groovy Guava Ribbon.
• 1 m Stampin’ Up! Double Stitch Soft Sky Ribbon.
• 1 m Stampin’ Up! Double Stitch River Rock Ribbon.
• 1 m Stampin’ Up! Double Stitch Blue Bayou  Ribbon.
• 10 Paper Pink Roses.
• Stampin’ Up! Sale-A-Bration set “Polka Dot Punches” Stamp Set.
• The Soap Dish - Honey and Oats Soap.
• Kaiser Craft Wooden pack of 3.
• Around The Block - Punch and Emboss - Thanks
• Remember When Chipboard - You Colour My World.
• 1 Handmade Daisy by Sandie.

So, you should get on over there and leave her a comment to have a chance to win this fabulous stash!

Mojo Monday #85

It’s another Mojo Monday contest week and I found some time this morning to make a card for the sketch….Mama made one the other day and I couldn’t let her make one and not do one myself!!!!

So, here’s the sketch we were working with:

And here’s the card I made this morning:

I’m a bit obsessed with Pink Pirouette and Riding Hood Red together at the moment…it’s such a pretty combination! I used *Echoes of Kindness* and the sentiment is that long retired set of Mama’s that I’ve been using a lot lately…I remembered to get the name today: *Warmest Regards*!!! The font is so lovely, it’s a shame it was ever retired. But I have no problems with using the old stuff ;)

I’ve stamped the flower images on watercolour paper and coloured them with the ink from the lids of the ink pads and an aquapainter. I used Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze. The DSP is Pink Pirouette, as is the ribbon. The pink pearls are Kaiser and came from my lovely blog candy that I won from Kirsty :) The cream flower is from her as well. The base card and the layers under the w/c paper is Pink Pirouette and the layer is Very Vanilla. I think that’s about it….oh yeah, I used the Eyelet border punch on the Riding Hood Red piece :)

And here’s the one Mama made….she didn’t follow the sketch exactly, more like used it for inspiration :) But it was her first time doing a sketch challenge and I think she did a good job.

She actually built her whole card around that gorgeous Teal coloured button on the bottom left and went with Taken with Teal and Basic Gray as her colour scheme. She also used *Echoes of Kindness* (which I didn’t realise until I went to find it to take a picture….I’m such a copy-cat!). I think she used Watercolour Pencils and a blender pen to colour her flower, the ribbon is Basic Gray as is the DSP, which comes from the Hostess Paper Pack.

I hope you all have a great weekend and come back tomorrow for the Magnolia Down Under Challenge card.

Kristina’s CI #51

Another week, another Colour Inspiration challenge from Kristina Werner :) This week I persuaded Mama to have a play with it too…it’s so much fun having someone else to craft with all the time! I’m seriously thinking of getting her a blog of her own!

Anyway, the colours this week were a little tricky: Chocolate, Rose, Mustard and White. Mustard for me is a bit like the dreaded Pumpkin Pie….hard to know just what to do with it! So, as it’s Autumn down here I decided to go with that, as the colour reminds me of some of the Autumn foliage. Here’s the inspiration pic:

And here’s what I came up with:

I’ve used Trendy Trees, Choc Chip, Rose Red, Whisper White and More Mustard CS and inks (not white ink though!), as well as VersaMark for the swirls on the Chocolate card base. The Rose flower comes from the Flower Fusion felt flowers and the button (nekkid and all) is Mustard. The ribbon is the wide double stitched Choc Chip.

And here’s Mama’s contribution (oh yeah, her name is Coral just in case you were wondering…lol)

She was brave and went with Mustard for the card base. She’s used Embrace Life for the flower and background, but I’m not sure where that sentiment came from…I’d go ask her but she’s not feeling well today and is having a nap :) The ribbon is Choc Chip and I’m also not sure where the tiny butterfly came from either…but it’s really cute IRL.

OK, that’s it for today. I’m having a bit of an off day with my back and I’m going to go have a lie down too…I love being on “sick leave” when it means I can go for a nap whenever I want :)

Hope your Friday is fabulous,

Leslie’s blog Candy Challenge

As I mentioned yesterday Leslie is giving away some delicious blog candy…and you know how I love me some candy…LOL! So I got busy yesterday and made a card to fit her requirements of ribbon, a button and green for bonus points :) Though I’m not sure if I get disqualified for having more than one button or get extra points…lol.

This is the one that I made. I’ve used a brand new Tilda I just bought from Bizzy Bec’s and I’ve paper pieced her clothes with some Pink Pirouette polka dot DSP for her shorts and some Basic Grey *Two Scoops – non-fat yoghurt* (just between you and me I’d never eat green yoghurt….but hey, they have to call them something!). The rest of her was coloured with Copics. I used Sage Shadow and Pretty in Pink CS and Pretty in Pink ribbon. The buttons are the last of my Sassafrass Lass self-adhesive buttons. The Two Scoops DP was stamped with the big swirl from Baroque Motifs in Sage Shadow ink. The *cherish* sentiment was also stamped in Sage onto the same coloured CS and punched out with the large oval and mounted onto a Pretty in Pink punched out Designer Label (yes I am loving this way of doing small sentiments right now…I’ll get over it eventually). Oh yeah, I used the new Eyelet Border punch down the side of the DP too :)

Mama is on a couple of days off right now (she does shift work at the local hospital and often has her *weekend* in the middle of the week) and so she decided that she wanted to play too! Here’s her card:

Isn’t it pretty? She’s used the Embrace Life Stamp set, some Pink and Close to Cocoa CS and Cocoa ribbon. I think that green CS is Celery???? and the button comes from her amazingly huge stash. The DSP is the now retired Ginger Blossom.

Speaking of Mama’s button stash….it really is enormous…she does quilting as well as paper-crafts (she’s made me the most awesome quilted handbags that people are always asking about…I should show you some time). Anyway, today we bought some little jars to sort them by colour, so they will look pretty sitting on a shelf when we do the craft room makeover (yes, I will be taking tons of photos along the way and showing you the before and after). There are honestly thousands of buttons and I will be sitting on the floor tonight watching TV and sorting them out into the new jars. They are not only going to look awesome, but it will be much easier to find one the right colour this way. When I’ve got them sorted I’ll show you just how many there are.

OK, off now to do Kristina’s CI for this week…though it’s got Mustard in it and definitely will be a real challenge for me! Hope you’re all having a fantastic Thursday :)

Girly Birthday Card

You’re all probably really sick and tired of seeing Tildas this week…but I’ve been having so much fun colouring in the images that the lovely Kellie stamped for me that I just can’t help myself. I put in a Stampin’ Up! order today with a few new stamp sets in it, so next week I’ll have something different to show you :)

This one was coloured with markers and ink (again) and made into a pretty, girly birthday card…with a matching envelope as well:

The colour combo is Rose Red, Regal Rose and Basic Gray & the striped paper is from the hostess 6x6 paper pack. There are some gorgeous papers in that pack and I think I’ll probably end up using them all!!! The stamp set is Happy Everything, the brads are Rose Red and the ribbon is the wide Regal Rose grosgrain. The rest is pretty obvious I’d say :)

Just a heads up too….Leslie at The Crooked Stamper is giving away some blog candy! All you need to do to enter is make a card using ribbon and a button (green gets you bonus points) and link it up to her blog. Go on over and check it out :) I was lucky enough to win some blog candy from Kirsty this week…can’t wait for it to arrive at my house so I can play with all the lovely goodies! Thanks Kirsty!!!!

Thanks for all the well wishes about the bank…they will give me a loan, but it’s not much…LOL. I’m still not convinced that I really want to take on that kind of responsibility…if anything goes wrong (like the hot water heater blows up) it’s all up to me and that kinda freaks me out a bit. So I’m going to think about it a bit more before I decide. Maybe I’m just not *grown up* enough to deal with that much responsibility ;)

Hope you’re all having a wonderful Wednesday,

I love buttons…

The Stampin’ Up! in-colour Button Bouquet buttons to be precise! I have had them for about 2 or 3 weeks now and I’ve almost used them all. I just love having buttons that go with the in-colours and although I was disappointed that SU! retired the other buttons, I’m loving with these ones. I’ll have to get the Latte ones now too and have a play with them.

So, why am I talking about buttons??? Well, yesterday’s card had buttons (though the old retired ones) and today’s offering also has them…the new in-colour ones. Want to see it?

This is another one of the Magnolias that Kellie stamped for me. I tell you, having all these cute images is making it very hard for me to refrain from buying a whole lot of stamps!!! I figure I’ll just have to get Kellie to stamp me some more….LOL! I do provide the paper and this time I might have to send something tasty to keep her going while she stamps them :)

I coloured this Tilda with a combination of markers and the ink from the lids of the inkpads and the trusty aquapainter. I like the softness of the watercolouring with the Tildas…it suits them I think. I’ve also used Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze and Basic Gray CS and the Basic Gray polka dot DSP from the hostess pack (did I tell you how much I love these papers?). The ribbon is Riding Hood Red striped grosgrain and the buttons are, of course, the Button Bouquet ones. The sentiment is from Short and Sweet and is stamped in Riding Hood Red on Baja Breeze and punched with the small oval. I then mounted it onto a large oval of Basic Gray and a Designer Label of Riding Hood Red.

I really like the way these colours look together and think that I could even make this work for a masculine card…that might have to be a challenge for myself :) OK, better go get ready….I’m going to the bank this afternoon to see if they’ll give me a home loan so I can buy a house. To tell the truth I’m a teeny bit terrified by the idea of owning a house…but we’ll see how it goes. After all, they might say NO WAY!!! LOL.