Kristie Morrison

Anything but a card…

2009-09-13T13:14:00.001+10:00

That’s the theme for this fortnight’s Magnolia Down Under Challenge. The sponsor for this fortnight’s challenge is

and if you win, you get a fabulous prize from them

It was so much fun to step out of the box for this one and make a little *Get Well* tin. The tin itself, as well as the gorgeous Crate Paper, came from a kit Madonna got at a Craft Show make and take for me. (Thanks Mad!) Ok, enough blather, here it is:

You could use these little tins for all kinds of fun gifts, or to keep for yourself to store pretty things in :)

Ok, hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday. I will catch up with you all soon,

Really simple…

2009-09-09T14:25:00.001+10:00

….because I still haven’t found my Mojo :) Mama asked me to emboss some roses in different colours for her and I happened to think that silver on Basic Gray would look awesome…and I think it does.

Of course my photo doesn’t do it justice!!! I also used some Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and some of my hoarded Rich Razzleberry for the base. The ribbon is the Razzleberry polka dot. That’s about it really…I told you it was simple :)

Hope you are all well and happy and having a wonderful Wednesday,

The swine flu stole my Mojo

2009-09-06T09:42:00.001+10:00

I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if everyone had stopped visiting me, I’ve been gone so long :) That swine flu is NASTY and it took ages for me to start feeling better. It wrecked my back too, with all the coughing. I’m such a sook, aren’t I? But I have made something…not that I think it’s blog worthy, but it’s all I’ve got right now ;)

When Mad was here a few weeks ago she was looking through a catalogue (not sure from where….Target maybe?) and she saw this colour combo and challenged me to use it. Tangerine Tango, Night of Navy, Kraft and Bashful Blue. I’ve used the Artfully Asian stamp set, the Eyelet border, Large Oval and Scalloped Oval punches and some Navy ribbon. The buttons are from Mama’s stash (she has some awesome buttons!).

Like I said, it’s nothing special, but it has kind of got me back into the swing of things and I hope that I can get back into it soon. I hope you are all having a wonderful Father’s day and I’ll see you soon.

Swine Flu!!!!!!

2009-08-25T11:12:00.001+10:00

Hi there everyone :) I'm sure you've been wondering what on earth has happened to me....or maybe you didn't even notice I've been missing....LOL! When I told you last Sunday that I had a bad cold I had absolutely no idea just how sick I was going to get. I finally got to see my doctor yesterday and he thinks that I most probably have had Swine Flu! Without a test there is no way of being 100% certain, but the symptoms indicate that it is. I didn't bother with the test (even though Dr Ross offered it) because the health system is under enormous pressure with the Swine Flu problem.

I am slowly improving, but have very little energy and a very dodgy back after all the coughing! Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that I'm still alive and hope to be back to normal asap! I probably won’t be posting again this week until the MDUC card on Sunday…I still need lots of R&R before I can sit up long enough to create something.

I hope that you are all being super vigilant about hygiene and taking your vitamins :) Believe me when I tell you that you DO NOT want to get this flu…I have NEVER been so sick in my whole life! It was horrible and I hate the thought of any of you guys suffering like that. I fully understand how it can kill people…last Friday I could barely breathe and anyone with breathing problems (like asthma) is definitely in trouble if they get this flu.

OK, gotta go back to bed….see you soon!

MDUC #20!!!!

2009-08-16T12:40:00.001+10:00

Wow! I can’t believe we’re up to TWENTY challenges! The only time I missed doing them was when I was in hospital :) I have loved every one of them…though some were more challenging than others!

Today’s MDUC challenge is no exception. It’s Father’s Day here next month, and so Kellie set this fortnight’s challenge as *Father’s Day*. I don’t give my father a card (long story) so I thought I’d make one for Abby to give to my brother, Shaun, for the day. Of course it had to be purple and for Abby’s sake it’s got some glitter and bling :)

I’ve used some of the US in-colour Rich Razzleberry (ribbon & layer) {thanks Leslie} as well as Lovely Lilac and Lavender Lace. Tilda is stamped on watercolour paper and coloured with SU markers & an aquapainter. The bling is Basic Grey & the glitter is SU Supernova. The wooden letters and heart were from a sale & don’t have the manufacturers name on the packaging. They were coloured with Copics.

I hope that both Abby & Shaun like the card…my other sister, Anna, thinks they will. OK, gotta go back to bed now…I’ve managed to catch a cold on top of the sore back and I’m feeling rather miserable. Hope it doesn’t last long! I’ll see you again soon,

More blog candy…

2009-08-13T11:27:00.001+10:00

Tracey is giving away blog candy to celebrate 10,000 hits. This is the prize:

Having been the lucky winner of her last candy I can assure you that this prize will be awesome…though I hope I win again! Is that greedy????? LOL! You have until the 24th of August to enter…just click on Tracey’s name or the blog candy photo to go to her blog :)

Before I go I just wanted to acknowledge that I have received several blog awards recently that I need to get pictures for to post. But I wanted to make a point of saying thank you to June for her generosity in always giving me awards…and generally just being a very nice person :)

OK, better go check on the children…catch you later!

Together…

2009-08-13T10:25:00.001+10:00

This one’s a very quick (10 minutes, seriously!) card I made yesterday to test out my new *Sense of time* set. It had been sitting here, un-mounted even, since I got it at the start of July! I loved it as soon as I saw it used (by Lydia, I think) and wanted it desperately. When I saw it was in the new Mini, it was the first set on my list! And yet I’ve waited til now to use it!!!! Anyway, I loved it, even though I only used it for a minute :) I can see sooooooooo many possibilities for this set.

I stamped the cogs onto a piece of *Porcelain* DP in Kiwi Kiss and the clock face in Close to Coco. The sentiment…well I cut it out from something and it’s been sitting in my *I really have to make something with this* basket for ages. I layered it onto a piece of Mellow Moss with inked edges and the clock hand was inked with Close to Coco and stuck on with a jumbo Choc Chip brad.

You could use this card for an anniversary or engagement or even a wedding card…very versatile it is ;)

I also want to say thanks for all the input about the suitcase. I got Madonna to have a look at it yesterday and she showed me how to make a template and I think I will attempt it on the weekend. I will take the advice of those who obviously know better and make the first attempt with paper I don’t mind wrecking :) I hope to be able to show you the finished case, lined and all, next week :)

Right, better go fortify myself with a last cup of coffee…I am minding Mad’s older kids while her and Mark have to go to a family funeral. I am looking forward to getting to spend some extra time alone with them…and I think a photo session is probably on the cards. I do need more scrapbook material…

See you soon,

For Madonna and a question…

2009-08-12T10:53:00.001+10:00

Yesterday I was able to sit at the craft desk and make a quick card. Nothing very spectacular, but inspired by a card I’d seen in my web travels. Unfortunately I can’t remember which blog it was…but if it seems familiar let me know…LOL!

This one’s for Madonna because she will be so proud of me….I voluntarily used Cameo Coral!!!!!!!!!!! Rather startling I know, but the use of lots of Basic Gray tones its garishness down a bit :) I’ve just cut some strips of the new Walk in the Park papers and stuck them onto the CC. I’ve used a Grey card base, ribbon and ink to stamp the sentiment from the single Birthday Wish stamp. It was stamped on So Saffron and layered with Baja Breeze to bring together all of the colours from the DSP. I finished it off with a new Kiwi Kiss corduroy button.

To be honest I didn’t really like this DSP when I saw it in the new Mini and I didn’t order it. But after seeing it in real life and in action at Madonna’s launch I am now in love with it. So in love that I decided to use it to cover a paper-mâché suitcase I picked up at Spotlight. Bit now I’ve run into a problem! I’m going to pick Madonna’s brain about what to do this afternoon, but I want to ask you all as well….you can’t have too many options :)

This is the dilemma:

This hardware is not easily removed and I’m scared that if I try I will wreck the whole thing…so I need a way around it. Any suggestions????

I’ve covered the top, bottom and back of the case in this paper:

It is sooooooo pretty. I have thought about painting but I’m just not completely sold on that idea. So please, please, please let me know what you think I should do with it. Thanks, you guys are the best :)

OK, I’m going to go make my DT card for this weekend now, while I’m feeling alright. I’m looking forward to hearing your ideas about the suitcase and I’ll be back soon (I hope!).

Forest Friends

2009-08-08T12:48:00.001+10:00

Sorry I didn’t get here yesterday…my back is being *difficult* at the moment and doing anything is a bit of a challenge. I spent most of the day in bed yesterday, but I did get into the craft room and have a tiny play with my new Forest Friends set. When I saw this set in the new Spring Mini I knew I had to have it. Those little animals are too cute and I thought it would be good for all kinds of cards. As my mojo is still MIA this card is pretty simple…but the gorgeous Porcelain paper & stunning rose trim makes up for that….I hope :)

Yes, I’ve just realised that the trim is sagging when I stand it up like that…so I’ll pop a little glue dot under it before I give it away.

And here’s the card from Sunday’s MDUC. It too is very simple. There’s one thing to point out though…the blue and silver paper was the belly band on the beautifully wrapped book that Lauren sent me for my birthday. I loved it so much I couldn’t bear to throw it away and wanted to use it on a card. As the theme is *Winter is here* I thought the blue & silver looked *icy*…LOL!

OK, that’s enough of sitting in this chair for today. I hope I am feeling up to making something later on today…after a little rest :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Home again…

2009-08-06T12:27:00.001+10:00

I am home from my mini-break at Madonna’s place…tired and slightly sore, but I had the best time hanging out with my awesome sister and her amazing family. There were lots of hugs and kisses, some reading and, of course, some crafty activities :) Madonna had a launch for the new Spring Mini Catalogue on Saturday and she designed 3 awesome projects for her guests. It was fantastic to see her in action as a demo and to see the girls having so much fun making the cards and the tin that Mad had devised. I participated in the card making and here are the two cards that I made…

(Please excuse my bad photography…it’s very difficult to take a pic of acetate!)

Aren’t these great? No, not my work…the design…LOL! I really enjoyed myself making these…I didn’t have to think about it, just follow the directions :)

We also started making magnetic message boards from cookie sheets…mine’s not completely finished yet, but as soon as it is I’ll share it with you.

I also have to apologise for the lack of a MDUC post on Sunday….I scheduled it, but it has somehow disappeared into the ether and I don’t know how or why. I will re-do it and post it for you tomorrow. If you can’t wait you can click on the MDUC button in the side bar and go check it out over there, along with all the other gorgeous creations by the DT. I have to admit that it’s not my best work and I’ll will be working extra hard on the next one to make up for it ;)

OK, gotta go catch up on my emails and Google reader stuff. I’ll see you tomorrow :)

Going away…

2009-07-31T09:46:00.001+10:00

…but not too far :) Just a couple of hours down the road to Madonna’s house for some fun family time. I’m going to be there with her until the middle of next week. Hopefully I will find the time to blog about some of our crafty adventures…but there’s no guarantee :) I might just be too busy learning how to use her new nestabilities (birds and butterflies!!!) or even just getting lots of lovely hugs and kisses from the kids ;)

I will be back on Sunday with this week’s MDUC card, but until then I thought I’d share a card I made last week.

The main flower image is from SU’s Playful Petals, while the butterfly, flower and chipboard letters are from Ruby Rock-it and are from one of my favourite birthday presents. Apart from having to cut out the flower parts, this card was super quick and easy to make. The self-adhesive chipboard makes it really easy to create the wow factor on a card with very little effort ;)

I haven’t made much this week…my mojo is MIA and I’m hoping that some creative fun at Madonna’s is going to help bring it back! I know that creativity seems to come in cycles…sometimes it’s easy to be creative and other times, well there’s nothing in the tank. I guess it depends on a lot of things, but lately my tank has been pretty low. Hopefully a change of scenery and some time with my super creative sister will help me out.

OK, better go finish getting ready. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I’ll see you on Sunday for MDUC.

I ♥ blog candy…

2009-07-26T10:43:00.001+10:00

Then again I’m sure you all love some blog candy :) So, want to try and win some really awesome candy? All you have to do is go to Bec’s new challenge blog by clicking on the picture below and check out the *rules*…

Want to see what you could win?

Oh yeah…there’s some Mega Nestabilities in there (if I win I’ll have a very good excuse to buy a Cuttlebug or something similar!) Not to mention all the other lovely goodies!

Bec and Cheryl are also looking for TWO Design Team members for the new challenge blog…so if you’re interested in that you can check out the sketch and the details on the new blog Creatalicious Challenges.

I hope you’re all having a great weekend. I’ll be back tomorrow with something new to share….see you then :)

Still reading…

2009-07-24T11:30:00.001+10:00

I am just in the mood at the moment…all I want to do is curl up and read. I am now onto my fourth book in 4 days!!! That’s the only problem with being a fast reader…you go through so many books when the urge comes over you :) Yesterday I read the new Jeffrey Deaver book, Roadside Crosses. Very twisty and tricky…but that’s Deaver for you :) The day before I read the book Lauren sent me for my birthday, The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. I stayed up til 1am to finish that one…and it was totally worth the lost sleep :) Thanks Lauren! Finally, the name of the book I was talking about in the last post is *The Athena Factor* by W. Michael Gear. It was published in 2005 and I picked it up from the cheapie book stand in Big W. It’s all about genetics and the cult of celebrity…it was a great read by an excellent writer, but I don’t know if it would be easy to find.

So, enough about what I’m reading…I found a couple of things I’ve made and haven’t shared, so today I’ll share one of them with you and hopefully I will find some time to try and get creative later on today.

This is one of the Anya’s that Tracey sent me. I coloured her with Copics and used some of the lovely papers she also sent me in the blog candy…I think this one is an Amy Butler print. The button came from Mama’s stash and the sentiment is from the Soft Summer set which will be available in the Spring mini. That gorgeous scalloped oval punch is in that new mini too…you NEED this punch BTW, it’s gorgeous!

OK, gotta go…my little nephew just arrived and I need cuddles ;)

Unplugged…

2009-07-22T12:06:00.001+10:00

Yesterday I did not turn my computer on ALL day!!! It began because the painters had part of a trestle coming in through the door and taking up the space where my desk chair usually is. So after going shopping with Mama for about an hour, I came home and settled onto my bed to read until the painters had finished. The funny thing is that the book I was reading was so good that I had to keep going…I needed to find out what happened!!! So much so that I finally finished reading at 12.30am…that is one heck of a story!!!!

I can’t tell you how much I really enjoyed being unplugged for the day. I haven’t been reading much since I’ve been home….a delayed reaction to 6 years of reading all the time for study…when I stopped I just didn’t want to read anything…not even for fun! But yesterday cured me of that. It was so lovely to be completely absorbed into the story, to be taken to a world so different from my own and thrown into the action, to be so taken over by the story & so very attached to the characters that I was sad when the story ended…I wanted more!

So, why am I telling you all this??? Well, it’s because I haven’t created anything for days…I’m not sure where my mojo went, but I suspect that it was taking a few well deserved vacation days :) I’ve coloured a few images, but when it came to making a card…nada! So today I’m going to show you the final thing that I made for Mama’s new craft room…I only finished it last week because we were looking for the perfect trim to finish it off and Mama found it while she was on holidays at the Sunshine Coast with a friend…and it was absolutely perfect. So, what is this mystery item? A cork board…but not just any old cork board…

Close up of the lovely rose trim.

This last pic shows where it’s hanging in the room…and it looks great. It started off as a $5 cork board from the Reject Shop (discount type store for my US readers), very plain and boring. But some primer & pink wall colour brightened up the frame & the fabric came from Mama’s quilting stash and was just attached with spray adhesive.

So for under $10 Mama now has a gorgeous cork board to display her cards (or whatever) in the craft room. Plus it only took about an hour altogether to make it (not including drying time for the paint)…so you can see that it’s so easy to make a cork board that matches your room without spending much at all. I have plans for an even larger version in my craft room when I get my own place…I even have the fabric all picked out ;)

And just quickly before I go back to reading another book….here’s a kind of blurry photo of Jethro…I am holding him down because he wouldn’t hold still for the camera (it looks bad!). The reason is that he went sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong and ended up with paint all over himself…

He looks so silly :)

This one is just for the expression on his face…*OMG, are you taking MORE photos?????* LOL!

OK, gotta go read some more…hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday.

Christmas in July

2009-07-19T11:30:00.001+10:00

Hey there, and welcome to another MDUC Sunday. This week’s theme was chosen by the lovely Kellie. With the chilly weather a lot of people celebrate Christmas in July by cooking up a *proper* Christmas feast…we’re only celebrating by cooking up some really early Christmas cards featuring Magnolia stamps :)

I actually struggled a bit with this one and the card I’m going to share is V2.0…the first one was…well, a bit OTT, even for a Christmas card…LOL. I used a Christmas scrapping kit that I bought very cheaply on sale a couple of weeks back, so I don’t know who makes the DP or anything….but there was more than enough goodies in there to make 20 Christmas cards! So, enough of the blather….here’s the card:

The presents, stars and Santa sign are all stickers (I know!!!!), the bench is my stamp but the Tilda was a RAK from Kellie. The trees through the *window* are SU’s Lovely as a Tree and the sentiment comes from *The Best Yet*. There’s some Dazzling Diamonds on the massive flower…what’s Christmas without a bit of sparkle? Oh yeah, this card is BIG…an A4 sheet folded in half…I needed to make it huge to fit my idea…so someone’s going to get a massive card this Christmas :)

OK, I’m off to play with Jethro :) I’m teaching him to fetch…he has mastered the fact that he’s supposed to chase the ball and pick it up, he’s just not great at bringing it back to me! I sometimes think that he looks at me as if to say, “If you want the ball, why do you keep throwing it away???” Maybe he’s too smart to be good at fetch???

I hope your Sunday is restful and sweet,

Pun Fun Birthdays

2009-07-17T13:39:00.001+10:00

When Helene asked me to make her some kids birthday cards I knew just the stamps I wanted to use, at least for some of them, and that was Pun Fun. I bought it because I thought that it would be good for just this sort of thing, but until now it had never seen ink! When I first started stamping I couldn’t believe it when people said they had stamps that they had never used…I just couldn’t imagine having that many stamps! Now I am that person….strange! Anyway, back to the cards. I just picked out some DP that was bright and colourful and went for it :) I kept it pretty simple, because I know most of these cards will eventually end up in the bin…but I still had to have some embellishment!

These will soon be on their way to Helene, along with a couple of others & the Teacher’s Pet stamp set for her birthday. (she’s a teacher and I figure it’s a sneaky way to get her stamping…LOL)

Just before I go I want to share with you this adorable photo of Jethro. Yesterday I noticed that one of his ears was starting to stand up, but the other was still floppy…it looked so cute I had to take a photo:

How cute is my baby????

OK, gotta go…hope you all have a fantastic Friday :)

I am blessed…

2009-07-15T14:29:00.001+10:00

It sounds a little trite, but it’s true :) This birthday has shown me just how many lovely friends I’ve made since I started this blogging adventure, and now the Australia Post delivery guy thinks I am super popular ;) Today’s thanks go to the lovely Miss June, who sent me a lovely card and some more crafty goodies.

I want to share with you all the lovely goodies I received and to say another thank you to all of you who helped make this birthday so special.

In no particular order….thanks Lauren:

Thanks Leslie,

Thanks June,

Thanks Kay,

Finally, thanks to Madonna and Mama for these sweet goodies,

And especially to Tom for picking this out for me,

This was his second choice, after Mad nixed the bright pink nail polish he’d chosen :) I just love it ♥

I’m sorry for bragging, but I wanted to thank everyone and show them all how much I loved the gifts. It is astonishing that people on the other side of the world, that I have never met in person, would be so kind as to send me such thoughtful and wonderful gifts…but that’s the beauty of blogging, you make the nicest friends :) Plus I’ve got a pretty awesome family too! I should have taken a photo of the delicious and HUGE dark purple bath sheets that Mama got for me too…they are divine!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Wednesday. I’ll be back tomorrow with some of the cards I’ve made for Helene. See you then,

A bit of this & a bit of that…

2009-07-14T11:19:00.001+10:00

Today I have to thank both Lauren and Leslie for the lovely birthday gifts that arrived today! Nothing like having your birthday go a bit longer :) I will share them in a post later this week, along with all my other birthday deliciousness.

I’ve got 2 cards to share with you today…the first being Miss Lauren’s birthday card. She has already posted it on her blog, so I thought I’d share it here:

There’s lots of bits and pieces in this one…Basic Grey DP, SU punches, ribbon and CS, as well as the felt flowers and sentiment stamp. The button is a random find from Mama’s enormous button collection :)

This next card is one that I made with the chipboard owl from SU’s *On Board So Tweet*. I’m not completely happy with this one…it feels as though it’s lacking something…

The DSP is Ski Slope, the ribbon is Vanilla/Kiwi Kiss double sided satin and the sentiment is from Oval All and backed with the Scalloped Oval punch (loving that one!!!) I covered the owl in DSP and then sprayed him with some Glimmermist in Tattered Leather…in real life he’s all shimmery and pretty. Maybe it needs something down the right hand side….let me know what you think it needs…please?

I’ve been busy, busy, busy the past couple of days making a set of kids birthday cards for my best friend, Helene. She has two primary school kids who are always going to birthday parties and needs a whole pile of kids cards…which is proving more challenging than I thought. I don’t want to put a lot of *stuff* on them, because I’m certain they will end up in the bin, but I don’t want them to look scummy either….

OK, I’m off to enjoy some of my birthday goodies….I hope you all have a great Tuesday,

Mojo Monday #94

2009-07-11T11:15:00.001+10:00

Before I do anything else I would like to say a big thank you to all of you who commented on the craft room makeover. Mama is tickled that you all think she’s so clever and that you all had such nice things to say about her room and all the hard work she put into it. The difference between the old room and the new is astronomical…it is such a pleasure that (for now at least) I have such a lovely space to play in, not to mention that it makes me happy that Mama will always have such a beautiful space to create in.

Secondly, thank you for all the wonderful birthday wishes yesterday. I had a wonderful day, which began with the very surprising birthday blog hop for me, organised magnificently by the bestest sister in the whole universe, Madonna. Thanks honey!!!!! And to all my PSFs that participated….thank you all for being such wonderful friends and for making this birthday one that I will remember for ever. It might just qualify for the *best birthday present* list :) So thank you Lauren, June, Leslie, Nikki, Kristy, Kellie and Paula…you guys are the best!!!!!!

OK, now onto the Mojo Monday card! This is the sketch...it looks a bit tricky at first, but it turned out to be super easy to work with!

And here’s the card I made:

The colours came from the *Parisian Breeze* specialty papers…Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. The birdie is from *Friends 24-7* and the sentiment is from *Great Friend* (love the fonts!), while the ribbon is from the *Valet* ribbon originals. (I bought it for the Choc Chip polka dot…but thought it might be a bit much with the polka dot papers…LOL)

Just quickly before I go….I want to say thanks to Kay who sent me the most beautiful card (purple) and a lovely parcel of goodies that I would have picked for myself….Kay, they are just perfect! I will share them with you in another post next week with all the other crafty goodness that I got for my b’day!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Craft Room revealed…

2009-07-09T15:30:00.001+10:00

I decided that it would be a nice surprise for Mama to come home to a craft room without all of MY stuff everywhere, and so I got busy and tidied it up. Actually there was very little that needed to be done other than remove my stuff….LOL! So, here it is…before & after:

This is the only before I am going to show you. I will say that there was a LOT of furniture in this room…a single bed, a wardrobe, a bedside table, a chest of drawers (rather large) and of course Mama’s craft table, which was just a folding table. This is what it looked like after everything was taken out and the old carpet ripped up.

This is what it looks like now….

This last photo is the opposite end of the room from the French doors. There is another chair to come in here, but it needs to be repainted first.

I have to tell you that Mama did most of the work all by herself..all the painting, ripping up the old carpet, moving furniture…she’s amazing :) I was in charge of making cups of coffee and bringing glasses of water…something which I excel at! LOL I did help to put some of the furniture together…an interesting enterprise that! Someone should tell those people that their instructions suck!!!!

There it is, finally! The craft room in all it’s prettiness! I know Mama would love to know what you all think. Now that it’s all clean and tidy I feel this overwhelming urge to go make something and mess it all up again…..

See you tomorrow with the Mojo Monday card.

Finally…

2009-07-08T11:26:00.001+10:00

I really need to pick up some new rechargeable batteries for my camera…these ones are loosing their charge very quickly and taking forever to recharge! That’s why I had to wait til this morning to share my Jethro pics with you. There’s actually only two that aren’t completely blurry and horrible…that dog finds it very hard to stand still at the best of times, but bring out the camera and he’s jumping around like a lunatic!

The first picture is an absolute miracle in itself…I clicked at just the right time to catch him standing still, staring at Pokey Puppy. Half a second later he had bounded off to see what Pokey was doing…but at least I got my shot!

This one is Jethro about to try and get up on my lap…yes, he still thinks he’s a baby who should get lovely lap snuggles…problem is he just doesn’t fit!!!! You can see that his eyes are still blue…I think they’re going to stay that colour. And did you notice just how HUGE his feet are now??? They were NOT like that when I got him!!! I found out yesterday that his mother had TEN puppies…half of them with Jethro’s colouring and the other half were black. I’m glad I got Jethro…he’s so pretty…LOL!

And very quickly, before I go, this is the reason I can’t show you photos of the craft room….my stuff is everywhere!!!!!

Just keeping it real…..LOL!!! Really, as soon as I tidy up a bit I will take photos to share. I’m just in the middle of 6 different projects and have stuff everywhere (see the owl Leslie?) The truth is that if I picked up all MY stuff and put it somewhere else (I need a *Other Room* of my own…lol) then the room would be completely presentable. So I shall try and do that this afternoon…it might be a nice surprise for Mama to come home to a clean and tidy craft room :)

I’ll be back later with my Mojo Monday card…as soon as I find it in all that mess and take a photo :)

We apologise for this delay in scheduled programming…

2009-07-07T11:59:00.001+10:00

My camera batteries are D.E.A.D.!!! I am currently waiting for them to re-charge. I haven’t forgotten my promise of Jethro photos. Yesterday I had to go shopping for supplies, as Mama has left for a couple of days in Brisbane with Madonna and her family. I am dog-sitting :) When I got home I was very sore and just wasn’t up to sitting at the computer :(

So, as soon as the batteries are charged and I can download the photos of Jethro I will post them here for June and Leslie…and of course anyone else who is interested in seeing the monster he has turned into.

In the meantime I thought I would show you a few more pages from the *Dream* mini book. I plan on finishing the last page I have to do later on today…after I do the Mojo Monday sketch :)

You can see that every single page is completely different…but somehow they all fit together. It’s hard to see that just from the individual photos, so when it’s finished and put together I’ll try and get a picture that captures that strange cohesion.

Til later,

MDUC #17

2009-07-05T12:43:00.001+10:00

Hi everyone and welcome to another Magnolia Down Under Challenge. I can’t believe that we are up to number 17 already!!!! This week’s challenge is a fun sketch designed by Kellie:

Isn’t that just the cutest??? Well, when I printed it out it was printed sideways, and not looking at the actual pic that Kellie had emailed me, I ended up making my card that way!!! It’s ok though…I stuck to the sketch, it’s just flipped!

As you can see I made another PINK card this week. I realised this morning that my last MDUC card was pink too…I’m really going to have to try other colours!!!

This week I coloured my Tilda with Copic Ciao markers and paper pieced her shorts and jacket with the Urban Prairie papers that I used on the card. The text layer bhind the image was stamped with the retired French Script BG stamp in Regal Rose, then sprayed with Bubblegum Pink Glimmer mist. IRL it’s all shimmery and pretty…but that’s really hard to capture in a photo! The buttons are from Basic Grey’s matching Urban Prairie buttons and the ribbon is some pale pink organza from Mama’s stash! The *love* sentiment is a rub-on from the Bright Delights rub-ons in the current catty (it’s Choc Chip….they have the best colours!!!!). I think that about covers it, but as usual if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments. I hope you will all play along :)

Now on to something else…LOL! I have had several requests for Jethro photos and I REALLY tried to get some for you, but he is either curled up fast asleep or jumping around like a lunatic…which means getting a decent photo of him is almost impossible…but I will try again today and you will have something tomorrow….even if it’s blurry (that ok with you June and Leslie?). He is so huge now…I can’t believe that tiny little puppy grew so much in the last 2 months…he’s 3 months old and a MONSTER DOG!!! I am scared to even contemplate how much he is going to cost to feed once he’s finished growing!!!

Also the craft room photos will be coming this week! Right now the craft room looks a lot like a bomb went off in it (all my fault of course!)…but I will tidy up (and do a little *styling*) and take photos asap…look out for those pics later this week….PROMISE!!!!

I hope you’re all having a great weekend and that my American friends had a great Independence Day celebration!

I’m such a copycat…

2009-07-04T17:37:00.001+10:00

Earlier today I was looking at the fabulous Miss June’s blog and I saw a very pretty card that I just adored. Looking at it again now (when I went to grab the link) I realised that I must have loved it more than I initially thought, because I’ve sort of *borrowed* from the layout as well….LOL! Have a look at mine, then pop on over and look at June’s and you’ll see what I mean. Here’s my version of a *June card*…

The DP is the gorgeous Basic Grey Wisteria line (6x6 pad), as is the pretty blue button. The image and sentiment are from Friends 24-7…the flowers are stamped in Stazon on watercolour paper and coloured with markers and inkpads while the sentiment is stamped in Elegant Eggplant ink to match the ribbon. I used the new Eyelet border punch on the Sage Shadow layer. The other 2 CS colours are Certainly Celery for the base and Baja Breeze for the layers. Oh yeah, I rounded all the corners ‘cause I just felt like it …lol!!!

This card is so soft and pretty IRL…so thanks for the inspiration June, I needed it :)

Hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend,

Card Box

2009-07-03T11:41:00.001+10:00

As I was laying in bed last night, unable to sleep, I realised that I had never shown you the Kaiser Recipe Box that I bought Mama for Mother’s Day. I sanded and painted and stuck on some yummy DP and turned it into a box to keep her finished cards in. It’s done in the same colour as the walls in her craft room, it’s called Lucifer….I know!!!! (The other colour she used is Fairy Wings! Who comes up with the names for paint colours?????) So here are a few pictures of how it turned out:

All of the dividers are decorated in the same way, just using different DP and ribbon. The DP you can see inside the box is the reverse of what’s showing through the *windows* on the sides.

I didn’t go too OTT with this one…Mama is more subtle than I am…LOL! But she really liked it and that’s the main thing :)

OK, I’ll be back on Sunday with my MDUC card for the week….once I get it finished (Hi Kellie!). It’s mostly finished, I just need to put it together. It’s been a long slow process this week!

Hope you all have a fabulous Friday,

Glimmermist and Wisteria

2009-06-29T10:36:00.001+10:00

I haven’t had the chance to do much creating these past few days…it’s difficult for me to sit for too long at the moment :( It’s starting to drive me a bit crazy because I have a few good ideas I want to try out…at least I have them written down (with diagrams!) so that I won’t forget what I want to do. I did get a few moments the other day and had a little play with some Glimmermist and Maya Road chipboard (Butterflies and Bugs), as well as some Basic Grey bling. I was just messing around, trying to get a *feel* for the products but I made the cutest butterfly that I knew I had to do something with….enter Basic Grey Wisteria 6x6 DP and this is what I came up with:

(Who is surprised that I bought pink and purple Glimmermist?????)

The card base, ink for the sentiment and ribbon are Elegant Eggplant, the punched circle (1 1/4”) is Baja Breeze and the punched scallop circle is Sage Shadow. There are three different pieces of the Wisteria paper on the card…can you see them? These papers all blend together so well it’s hard to differentiate between them :) There is, of course, the background paper, then the scallop-y edge at the bottom comes from another piece and finally the punched circle (1 3/8”) behind the sentiment and the purple flower behind the butterfly are from the third piece. I just cut that purple flower out by hand and as it was right on the edge of the paper there is a little straight edge on the left…so I just put it right up against the edge of the BG paper and it looks so pretty IRL. I did do some faux stitching around it with a white gel pen…but it’s kind of hard to see it :(

I just want to let you all know that I’m going to be taking the rest of the week off. Things are a little tough right now and I just need to get a lot of rest, so there is no guarantee that I would have much to post anyway :) I hope you all understand and still come to see me when I get back :) I will be here this weekend with something for you Saturday and the MDUC card on Sunday. I hope you all have a lovely week,

Dream a little dream…

2009-06-25T12:03:00.001+10:00

I must apologise for my absence, unfortunately my back has decided that it doesn’t want to play nice right now and life has been a little…difficult :) Even though I haven’t made anything for days (getting withdrawals!) I thought that I should share some of my Dream mini book with you. I still have one page and the back cover to do, but I will show you some of what I have finished. I am so happy with the way this turned out and I don’t think it would have been possible to have more fun doing it! So, here are some of my favourite bits…

The first two photos are the cover and the inside of it. The rest of the photos are peaks of some of the embellishments in the book. The book itself is a Kaiser Key Plate album that I picked up a while ago at one of the online craft stores I shop at….I think it was Anna’s Craft Cupboard…they were having a sale of Kaiser stuff and I picked up a few different albums to play with. I’ve got a great square scalloped album that I plan to do next. Anyway, if you want to know where anything came from just ask in the comments ;) But I do have to warn you that a lot of the stuff I used in this album came from blog candy and RAK’s that people have so kindly sent me…like that chipboard crown in the last photo…it came from the lovely Lauren a while ago and I’ve been hoarding it for just the right project…thanks Miss Lauren :)

Now onto something completely different….on Monday I got a lovely parcel of goodies from Anna’s (there was another sale!) and in it was some Tattered Angels Glimmermist. My colour choices were heavily influenced by Heidi Swapp, who did a great tutorial on using it…it was on Ali Edwards blog here. I now NEED some masks and some Invisibles chipboard!!!!!

Anyway, my question is…have you ever used it??? If you have used it before and you have any useful tips or hints then PLEASE leave me a comment. I’ve had a little play with it, but I thought I’d ask you guys what you think of it and how you use it. So thanks in advance for your advice :)

OK, that’s it for today. If you are interested I’ll show you some more pics of the mini book, but hopefully I can get in and make something new very soon! Hope you all have a nice Thursday :)

I might be rather dangerous….

2009-06-22T10:18:00.001+10:00

….if my brain actually functioned properly and didn’t decide that at random points in time it would promptly forget everything and go on vacation! Seriously!!!! I do have something of an excuse as I haven’t been feeling well…but I didn’t realise until about 11pm last night that I hadn’t done my post for MDUC for this week. Yes my friends…the card that I had made a week early because I forgot that we had switched to fortnightly challenges didn’t get posted on the proper day as I forgot that it was Sunday!!!! I am really going to have to get a big calendar up on the wall or something. Anyway….enough of the excuses…here it is:

This week it was a colour challenge and you have a number of different combos to choose from….guess which one I chose????

Pink, Brown and Cream/White
Orange, Brown and Cream/White
Blue, Brown and Cream/White

There’s not much to this card…very basic and simple really…but when you have such a cute Tilda to work with you don’t need alot!!!

I might be a bit hit and miss with regular appearances this week…over the weekend we lost a good family friend to the dreaded *C* word and I have promised to help by making little memorial booklets for the service on Thursday and I’m not really sure how much time I will have to be creative in other ways. What I should do is go and take pics of my mini book and feed you the pages one by one over the rest of the week…LOL!!!! I do hope to start sharing that tomorrow.

I hope you all have a lovely week,

No excuses…

2009-06-19T11:09:00.001+10:00

…except for the one where I tell you that I have been having too much crazy fun making the mini-book that was inspired by Tracey’s blog candy???? It’s almost done and I will share pictures soon…but that will be a huge post as there’s so much to see…maybe 2 posts? Anyway you might get to see that tomorrow, depending on how I end up feeling later (I’ve been a bit ill this morning with a *tummy bug* {Australian euphemism…you work out what it means ;)}, but I hope I’m feeling better later on so I can get it finished). I wish you all could have as much fun as I have the past few days working on it. It’s so fat and delicious, with bits poking out the sides…and LOTS of glitter…LOL! I was eating dinner with Mama the other night and she suddenly broke out laughing…apparently I had a glitter moustache!!!!

Anyway, to make up for my prolonged absence I have THREE cards to show you and some pics of Jethro to boot!!! Let’s get started!

First up is this little cutie, who I believe is called Anya :) Tracey sent some stamped images in the blog candy and she seemed suitable, considering the weather lately!!! I coloured her with Copics and matted her onto some Pale Plum CS. The Celery layer is stamped with the Polka Dot BG stamp (SU) and the base card is Pixie Pink. I took the colours from that fab DP, which was also part of my blog candy winnings (yes, I am very lucky indeed!). The brads are Kaiser…Mama picked them up for me at the LSS last week. The sentiment is the ubiquitous *Best Yet* and finally the ribbon was pinced from Mama’s stash…maybe it was some of her blog candy winnings from Leslie????

I think this one qualifies for the UHC Pink Day challenge…right Leslie? It’s a mish-mash of stuff from all over the place. The *merci* and damask motif are both stickers…kindly sent to me by Lauren when she got a ton of them (you rock!!!), she also sent the crown which I have covered in Pink supernova glitter and added some pink Kaiser half-back pearls (part of my blog candy from Kirsty!). I also stuck the pearls all over the front of the card. The DP is Basic Grey, the card base is SU Pink Pirouette and the ribbon is SU Basic Gray (bit confusing, no?).

Finally, this watering can is one of my new Magnolia stamps and most of the bits and pieces on the card came from a card-making kit from Bizzy Becs.

Now what you’ve all been waiting for….a Jethro update :) I have to tell you that my cute and rather small little puppy has turned into a monster of a dog!!! I had no idea he was going to get sooooo big so fast! Although Jethro was supposedly the runt of the litter he is now apparently much larger than any of his siblings (I haven’t seen this for myself…just word of mouth). He is very well behaved for a puppy though. He hardly ever has *little accidents* now and lets me know when he needs to go outside. He loves to play with toys, as you will see from the photos. There are several boxes with toys for the kids stashed under the futon in the sunroom. Jethro has taught himself how to pull the boxes out and help himself to the toys! He particularly likes chewing the heads off Barbie dolls….maybe he’s a secret feminist???? Anyway, enough chat…here he is:

I know that the doll he’s trying to eat in this last pic is not Barbie…but see the poor headless, one legged Barbie there in front??? she’s all Jethro’s work!

These photos were taken just now. Check out his cute collar….I’ve had to adjust it 3 times now. When I first put it on him I had to punch 3 holes in it to get it to fit him…now he’s onto the original holes and by the look of him this morning I think it need adjusting again!!! He is so loving and sweet…he loves to just be near me and is asleep under the desk as I type.

OK, I’m going to go back to bed for a while…I really feel yucky. Sorry to the girls I was supposed to see in Toowoomba today…I just don’t want you all feeling as gross as I do…that’s just rude sharing your germs with others. I hope you all had a great time and NEXT TIME I will be there :)

Blessed

2009-06-16T12:59:00.001+10:00

I’m not sure whether I told you all or not, but I was the one to win Tracey’s blog candy that I had pictured on my sidebar right at the top. Yesterday there was a knock at the door and it was the lovely Australia Post delivery man (who I see on a frighteningly regular basis!) with a pizza box and my name was right there on the front :) Inside it was the blog candy that Tracey had sent and let me just say that she is one very generous lady. I spent a good 20 mins looking through it all and ooohhhhing and aaaahhhhhing. I couldn’t wait for Mama to get home from work so I could show her all the loot! So thank you Tracey!!!! You totally rock :) I can’t believe how much gorgeous stuff you sent me and I have already made a card out of some of it(using one of the cutest Anya images that she stamped for me), and am about to embark on a cute mini-book because of how much this stuff inspired me!!!!

Want to see what I got???

This is the cute little card that came with my goodies. Now you can all understand what I mean about generous….the amount of DP (all 12x12) alone would have been awesome but all the rest of it too???? Too kind Tracey ♥

I know that I promised I would share photos of the craft room transformation yesterday, but I have to confess that there are still a few more things to be done before I can share. I haven’t mentioned this before, but Mama has been rather ill and it turns out that she has both a stomach ulcer and a hernia (which will need an operation to fix!!!). So we haven’t gotten as much done as we had hoped. But it will get there and I will share pictures as soon as I can….even if it’s not quite finished :)

Finally (long post today!) I wanted to share with you a cute card that I made…

The Tilda with the bee was a RAK from Kellie but the suitcase stamp is mine (insert evil laugh). The paper behind her is Baja Breeze DSP layered onto some blue Bazzil textured CS. The other DP is Urban Prairie and if you look closely you can see that there are 2 different yellow crochet trims that I appropriated from Mama’s stash :) The crochet flower is Laundry Line and the button came from Mama’s fab button collection, while the blue Prima was from Tracey. The base of the card is Baja Breeze.

I just love this card, and I love that there’s no sentiment…I thought perhaps I would write/stamp Bon Voyage inside…don’t know though.

I hope you’re all having a terrific Tuesday and I’ll catch you tomorrow ♥

Now for something completely different…

2009-06-15T10:58:00.001+10:00

I don’t know about you guys, but I have a small obsession with decor blogs (as well as crafty ones). I think that there is a strong correlation between loving craft and being *into* home decorating. They are both ways in which we can express ourselves creatively and give ourselves an artistic outlet. They both demonstrate our personal style and tastes to others in a visual way and is often very indicative of our personality. But that’s just my opinion and I’d be more than happy to hear what you think about it. Do you read decor blogs? Do you read other kinds of blogs besides craft/stamping ones?

Anyway, today I was reading *From House to Home* and Michelle had a link to the HGTV quiz *What’s my style?*. I thought that it might be interesting, so I popped on over to take the quiz myself. All you have to do is choose from a selection of pictures that you think best represent your style and then they tell you what your style is (just in case you don’t know…LOL). Want to know what my style is??????

Your style is Romantic

Elegant yet relaxing. Luxurious fabrics, soft colors, fresh florals. Appeals to all the senses and sets a warm mood. My home has Romantic style.

I have to say that it’s pretty spot on. This is definitely what I love…lots of different textures in fabric from crisp white cotton to luxurious velvet and (fake) fur. Lovely soft, girly colours. Not so much of the florals in soft furnishings but definitely fresh flowers! Things that appeal to all the senses and set up a cozy, warm environment.

So, tell me…what’s your style?* Go on over to HGTV and do the quiz…it only takes a minute…then come back and let me know what your style is :) Go on, I’ll wait right here for you. I’m really very curious whether or not you think that the quiz result represents you or not. And if you are as interested in decor as I am.

*PS: you have to be a member at HGTV to take the quiz, but it only takes a minute to sign up and you never know when you might need the fabulous inspiration you can find there :)

oops…

2009-06-14T13:20:00.001+10:00

…I made a bit of a mistake when I said on Friday that I would be back today with the MDUC card for this week…I had forgotten that Kellie has changed the schedule to every two weeks and this is an off week. The card is actually not due until next Sunday..so I’m done really early for once :)

Instead I’ll show you this quick card I whipped up last night just ‘cause I was in the mood :) I used this cool Magnolia Stamps house that I bought from a nameless friend who was purging her Magnolia collection *wink*:

The trim and DP are both from Mama’s stash, the sentiment is from the hostess set *Best Yet* (best sentiment set ATM) The CS is Certainly Celery and So Saffron. I stamped the house in Close to Cocoa and coloured parts of it with the Cocoa marker. Not much else to it really. It took all of 15 mins including interruptions!

I hope you are all having a great weekend and I will see you tomorrow :)

Crazy for Cupcakes

2009-06-12T12:57:00.001+10:00

When the new catty came out in April the one of the first sets I wanted was Crazy for Cupcakes and the matching wheel. I had seen so many cute cards made with this set that I just HAD to have it! So today I thought I’d share a couple of cards that I made with it. These cards are for my friend Helene…when I first took up stamping as a hobby she thought it was funny. She’s not the patient type and she’s far too practical to spend all the time and effort making pretty cards when there’s much more *useful* things she could be doing :) Anyway, last year I sent her a set of cards in a cute box for her birthday. She has two primary school aged kids and there’s always a birthday party to go to…but now she’s run out and has requested some more :) I haven’t converted her to stamping, but she does appreciate having cute, unique birthday cards to give to others…LOL!

OK, enough blathering….onto the cards:

This one uses Sweet Always paper and some pretty bright colours….even Pumpkin Pie (I know!). Obviously this one is for a girl :)

Actually, so is this one. The sentiment came from some DP that I got in my blog candy win from Kirsty. I just cut out the sentiment I wanted and layered it onto some Pixie Pink CS. The ribbon on both of these cards is Regal Rose wide grosgrain. The images were stamped on watercolour paper and coloured with markers.

I hope you all have a fabulous Friday and a great weekend. I will be back on Sunday with my Magnolia Challenge card :)

More DSP cards…

2009-06-11T12:03:00.001+10:00

See, I told you that my new *schedule* would encourage me to post more regularly :) Today I have another 2 cards to show you. I’m pretty sure that I haven’t shared these with you before….but it’s a while since I made them. They are cards that I made when I was *trying out* all the new DSP that I had bought when the get one free sale was on. The first one uses the gorgeous Pink Flamingo DSP. I didn’t really love this when I saw it in the catalogue, but Mama liked it and wanted it as one of the packs we split, so I forced myself make something with it…

I cut around the flamingo and his birdie friend and stuck them on top of another piece from the pack. The layers were mounted on a Pacific Point layer and a Cameo Coral card base. The ribbon is also Pacific Point, which technically is not one of the matching colours….but I wanted to use that blue Supernova glitter on the On Board letters and it seemed a better match than Turquoise (I think that’s my reasoning at the time….it was a while ago!).

Next up is a simple little card I made with the yummy, yummy Candy Lane DSP:

This was sooooooo simple….cut out the section on the page with the birdies on it, layer that onto some Choc Chip, stick some striped DSP on a Pink Pirouette card base and quickly stamp and punch out the sentiment and it was done! I think it looks a little nekkid, but I don’t want to distract from those cute birdies, so I guess it will stay that way.

Today I am going to try and finish pretty-ing up a cork board for the craft room and try and finish the desk caddy too. I hope all the little finishing touches will be complete and I can show it to you over the weekend or by Monday at the latest. Mama is working, so it’s up to me to get the final touches done ;) It’s actually been a lot of work, but the end result is really worth it. Mama is spending a lot of time in there where it’s nice and warm during the day and I love the new organisation of all her supplies…I can find everything I need so quickly and easily now. I can’t wait to share it with you all.

I hope you have a great Thursday and I’ll be back soon :)

Sweet Tildas

2009-06-10T10:58:00.001+10:00

See, I told you I’d be right back :) I have made quite a few things recently that I haven’t showed you yet….and yes I have been slack with the posting, but I hope that a new routine will help me to find the time to post everyday again. I was going to share one of these yesterday, but when I went to take a picture of them, all of my rechargeable camera batteries were dead and I had to wait til they were charged before I could take the photos. I still haven’t found the perfect picture taking place here at Mama’s, but I’m working on it. Anyway, here are the cards:

This first one uses the cute Tilda with a basket of flowers. Kellie stamped me one of these that I used on Mama’s Mother’s Day card and we both liked it so much that Mama bought it, but she’s good at sharing :) The CS is Ruby Red and Sweet Slumber specialty paper, with a snippet of Whisper White for the sentiment. I used the Full Heart punch, a red rhinestone brad and some Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon for embellishment.

This is Shy Tilda and her colours are So Saffron and Baja Breeze with a touch of riding Hood ribbon and red glitter on the Sticky Cuts heart. More of the yummy Sweet Slumber paper here too…love the clouds! I think that’s my favourite of all of these papers. The button is Baja Breese and tied up with some crochet cotton.

Both Tildas were stamped on watercolour paper and coloured with a mixture of mediums…ink for the lids of the pads, markers, a blender pen and aquapainter. You’ll definitely be seeing more of these two sweet girls, as well as a couple of new accessories stamps very soon.

OK, that’s it for now. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday (especially you Jean!) and I’ll be back soon….promise :)

Blog candy winner!

2009-06-10T10:24:00.001+10:00

Just a quick post to let you all know that the winner of the blog candy is Jean who said:

Hi Kristie, I have been a follower of your blog for a while and admire all you do!
I think any kind of blog candy would be fun but any embellishments like ribbon, flowers, brads etc. would make wonderful candy!

June 1, 2009 3:01 PM

You should go check out Jean’s blog if you are not familiar with her work…she can even make that dreadful sock monkey look cute!!!!!

I should also tell you all that I even used random.org to choose the winner….there were 20 comments and I have 31 followers so I put in to choose between 1 and 51 and it choose the #2…I counted the comments first, so that was Jean. Thank you all for playing along with the giveaway….I should do this more often as a way of getting rid of more stuff…LOL!

Actually, it doesn’t work very well at lessening my stash, because I won Tracey’s great blog candy that’s there at the top of the sidebar….so some goes out and more comes in :) That’s the second blog candy I’ve won since coming back to Warwick….maybe it’s a lucky place for me. Oh yeah, and Mama has won one too….so it’s luck all round at our place!!!!!

I’ll be back a bit later to show you a couple of cards with new Tildas and some Sweet Slumber specialty paper…just need to take pics and edit them first :)

All About A Boy…

2009-06-07T11:57:00.001+10:00

I really have to stop apologizing all the time…but I’m so sorry to have gone missing…it’s that darned real life getting in the way of my blogging!!!! When I lived in Sydney I didn’t really know very many people or have much of a social life! It’s different here…all my family is close by and I see them regularly…last night Mama and I even babysat for Shaun and Michelle and had little Abby for a sleepover :) She was so adorable and cute as can be! But time consuming!!!!

Anyway, enough of the excuses :) I’m leaving the comments on the blog candy post open until Tuesday night…if you haven’t left a comment you have until then and I shall draw the winner on Wednesday morning and post it then….promise ;)

OK…you’re probably wondering about the post title, right? Well it’s the theme for this week’s Magnolia Down Under challenge! It doesn’t seem to be up on the blog just yet…I must be early for once!!! Anyway, here’s the card that I made…

I’ve used a rather unusual colour combo for this one…Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze and Pacific Point! The colours were inspired by Edwin’s clothes…which I coloured with markers and ink from the lid of the ink pads and used both an aquapainter and a blender pen to achieve the look I was after. The stripey Choc Chip and the Baja Breeze polka dot are both from the single colour Designer Series Prints. These papers are all so nice and it’s great having just the right colour DSP when you need it :) The sentiment is from Crazy for Cupcakes and that cute button is one of the few I have left from the Button Bouquet.

I guess that’s about it for now. I’m going to go play and try to catch up a bit with my 52Q…I am woefully behind and if I don’t do some soon I’ll be too far behind to ever catch up. It’s so much fun doing the questions that I really don’t want to give up now.

Hope your Sunday is sunny and warm and most of all, relaxing :)

How Very Exciting!!!

2009-06-01T12:31:00.002+10:00

When I published that last post I checked my blog counter and found that I have gone past 20,000 hits!!! Can you believe that??? When I started this blog I had no idea that anyone would ever read it except for Madonna (and she has to ‘cause she’s my sister!). To have reached such a milestone is very exciting for me. I would love to do a giveaway…but as most of my stuff is packed up I am not sure what to offer…..

So leave a comment on this post to be in the running to win some blog candy! I will think about it today and tomorrow I will let you know what you could win :) Probably some stamped Magnolia images, some DSP (‘cause I have a ton of that!) and maybe some buttons and ribbons and stuff like that. So leave me a comment telling me what you would like to see in the blog candy and you might just win it :)

Edited to add: If you become a follower of my blog you will get an extra entry into the giveaway and all current followers will get an extra entry too...so make sure you leave a comment to have 2 chances to win :)

More Urban Oasis

2009-06-01T12:12:00.002+10:00

You may remember that I told you last week (I think) that I had set myself a challenge to see how many different cards I could make with the limited supplies of the Urban Oasis DSP, 5th Ave Floral stamp set, other sentiment stamps and the matching CS and inks. I got started and had made 2 cards before I was interrupted by the delivery of NEW SU! goodies. Well, this idea had been stuck in my brain and I wasn’t going to be happy until I had finished what I started :) So I sat down and made some more cards…4 actually and all in one sitting! It probably took about an hour to make these 4 cards and I know that with these supplies I could make sooooo many more. It just goes to show that you really don’t need a lot of stuff to make nice cards! Though lots and lots of STUFF is GOOD :)

Anyway, here are the cards that I made….the last one is my favourite and the one that took the most time!!!

The rose image was stamped 3 times in VersaMark and embossed with silver. I then cut out the various layers and popped them up with dimensionals. In real life it is sooooo pretty!

I have to apologise for the bad quality of my photos today….I don’t know what’s going on!!! OK, I just looked at my camera and it was on the wrong setting!!!!!! But I am way too lazy to take the pictures again, so sorry but you’ll just have to put up with these ones :(

So, as you can see you can get totally different styles of card just using the same *ingredients*….it helps that 5th Ave is such a versatile set…this is one that’s going to be staying with me for a long, long time for sure!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Monday (LOL) and get to do something fun and creative :)

Moving to the country…

2009-05-31T11:37:00.002+10:00

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…

2009-05-29T16:56:00.003+10:00

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?

2009-05-28T11:57:00.002+10:00

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…

2009-05-26T11:22:00.002+10:00

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

2009-05-24T18:16:00.002+10:00

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….

2009-05-23T13:32:00.002+10:00

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

2009-05-20T11:51:00.001+10:00

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

2009-05-17T11:57:00.001+10:00

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

2009-05-15T17:29:00.001+10:00

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…

2009-05-12T10:23:00.001+10:00

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

2009-05-10T13:41:00.001+10:00

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

2009-05-09T12:30:00.001+10:00

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

2009-05-09T12:22:00.001+10:00

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

2009-05-08T13:19:00.001+10:00

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

2009-05-07T16:41:00.001+10:00

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

2009-05-06T20:21:00.001+10:00

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…

2009-05-05T12:36:00.001+10:00

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.

No snappy title today…

2009-05-04T22:01:00.001+10:00

Yep, it’s Monday and even though it’s a holiday here in Queensland, not to mention the fact that I’m on a 6 month *holiday*, my poor tired brain can’t produce a single witty title to save my life :( I have been a bit creative today though! I made a card for Mama for mother’s day to replace the *lost* one from yesterday…I’m very, very happy with the way it turned out and I’ll share that later in the week.

Today I have a boy’s birthday card to show you. I don’t actually have any boy’s birthdays coming up, but I’m working on creating a stockpile of things to sell in the Etsy shop and the local craft shop as soon as I get sorted out. So when I sit down to make things at the moment I’m trying to do stuff that I think will sell…who knows if they will though????

This little cutie is from Magnolia, though I don’t know what he’s called as he’s one of the one’s I got Kellie to stamp onto watercolour paper for me. I coloured him with SU! Markers and an aquapainter.

I’ve used Close to Cocoa, Not Quite Navy and Ruby Red CS and Red buttons. The edges have all been distressed to give it a more masculine look (buttons are ok for a boy card, right? I did refrain from using ribbon!) It’s pretty plain and simple, but I don’t want to put too much time into the ones that are going up for sale, otherwise the price would be ridiculous and this one only took about 20 mins.

Anyway, it’s getting late and I think it’s time for me to get to bed. I don’t know what happens to the day when I’m not really doing anything…I just potter around and before I know it the day is over! I hope you’ve all had a great Monday (or is that an anachronism?).

Mum’s the word

2009-05-03T09:38:00.001+10:00

Next Sunday is Mother’s day, and it’s nice to have had this Magnolia Down Under challenge a week before the day so I could have a nice card made for my Mama….only problem is that it’s in a box in the garage and I don’t know which one!!!!! At least with the sentiment on it I can give it to her at any time…but it does mean that I’ll have to get in and make another one while she’s at work this week!

For this card I used Tilda with Tulips and took my colours from the lovely ribbon, flowers and lacy edged paper that the lovely Bec sent me with my first order of Magnolia stamps. The colours are also lovely autumn ones that suit this time of year :) The AC Thickers that I used to spell out *Mum* were white, but a run over with the appropriate Copic marker and they match perfectly. I also used some SU Sage Shadow and More Mustard CS and the *for you* stamp is SU as well…however, the name of the stamp escapes me and as I don’t have all my stamps right here in their shelves to check I just can’t tell you :) I will try and find out which one it is though!

I hope you’re all having a lovely weekend. It’s a bit chilly here in Warwick tonight (Saturday) as I write this….time to bundle up in a warm dressing gown and curl up with a good book I think :)

Kristina’s CI #50

2009-05-01T19:44:00.001+10:00

Wow! Kristina is celebrating her 50th Colour Inspiration challenge in style, with tons of lovely prizes…so I thought I’d just pop in a quick post so I don’t miss out :)

Isn’t this pin cushion just gorgeous??? As I am currently obsessed with my 5th Ave Floral I had to use the flower as my inspiration and this is what I came up with:

I stamped the large rose in Stazon onto watercolour paper and coloured it with Riding Hood Red ink and an aquapainter. The other two flowers were stamped on Whisper White with So Saffron and Close to Cocoa. The sentiment is from a long retired set that Mama has and I used the stamp-a-ma-jig to separate what was a one line sentiment so it would fit inside the designer label punch. It’s stamped in Red with a Saffron 1 3/8” circle behind it. The base card, ribbon and rhinestone brads are all Tempting Turquoise. Those brads really are straight…I just realised that the pic is crooked and will try to replace that in the morning :)

Hope you like it,

Mmmmm…lost track of the time!

2009-05-01T09:01:00.001+10:00

Hi all, sorry I didn’t get back here as promised. There’s something about being here at Mama’s house that makes me feel like I’m seriously on holidays and I just potter around and loose track of the days. Not a very good excuse I’m afraid, but it will have to do!

So, here’s the promised project made by Mama with the *Down Under* set “Bloom Away”. It has 3 lovely native flower images that are just gorgeous and it’s in my plans to have a play with it myself real soon. Anyway, here it is:

She stamped them onto watercolour paper and coloured them with an aqua painter and ink from the lids of the ink pads. She then mounted it onto some Certainly Celery DSP and then popped it into this nice plain black frame….doesn’t it look lovely??? It’s in the kitchen sitting on the very old and beautiful dresser that belonged to her grandmother and which will one day be MINE!!!! LOL.

Anyway, I’ve really been enjoying being home and away from Sydney. A trip downtown yesterday to do some shopping really reinforced the difference between here and Sydney. The bus driver remembers me from when I lived here before and had a nice chat with me. All the shop assistants are friendly and on the bus on the way home there was a group of ladies all chatting away with one another and there was one that I knew who caught me up on some ex-boyfriend gossip of enormous proportion. Things like that just don’t happen in the big city!!!!

OK, I better go do some more nothing….I tidied Mama’s craft area yesterday, so now I know where everything is and have a bit more room to spread out I might even make something!

Clean and Simple

2009-04-28T16:14:00.001+10:00

Hello there! I’m here at Mama’s house, safe and sound, as are all my belongings. Though they are mostly packed away in the garage and I’m finding that perhaps I am not the world’s best packer! I really should have thought more carefully about what I would actually need for my stay here and packed that stuff all separately and properly labelled….ah well, we live and learn, don’t we?

I haven’t really had the chance to do much creating yet, but I did whip up a little clean and simple card with my new 5th Avenue Floral and the new in-colours. 5th Avenue is brilliant for making nice simple cards with a big impact…there’s not much to this one, but I think it’s pretty :)

I’ve stamped the various flowers from the set in Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss and Pink Pirouette and the sentiment in Red onto some Very Vanilla with a scalloped bottom edge. I tied on some of the new Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon with the Vanilla edge (absolutely delicious!) and mounted it onto a Riding Hood Red base. That’s it, but IRL it’s lovely :)

It is so nice to be home, though it was rather chilly here this morning, something I’m not used to after living in Sydney for a year…but totally worth it for the slow pace of life here and the clean country air…it’s really made me realise just how bad Sydney smelled!!!

Tomorrow I will be back to show you something awesome my Mama made with one of the new catty sets that is exclusive to Australia and New Zealand…gorgeous native flowers.

Hope you’re all having a fabulous day,

Spot the Dots

2009-04-26T12:00:00.000+10:00

So this is another of the posts that I have scheduled, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that all goes to plan and the post at the right time!

This week’s Magnolia Down Under challenge is *Spot the Dots* and you can see from my card that I took this rather literally!

Now, this is one of those times when I wished that I had written down the ingredients for my card somewhere. Usually I just go check the name of things in my stash…but of course as I’m writing this it’s all packed up and not accessible!!! The Magnolia stamp is Sitting Tilda and I chose her because she has a polka dot top and hair bow…she was stamped on Neenah Solar Crest and coloured with Copics. The DSP is the now retired Dashing…I’m really going to have to get some new DSP and stop using all the retired stuff…but these jumbo polka dots were perfect. The little polka dots that she is sitting on and that are in the scallop circle are from the same pack. The stamp is one of last year’s hostess sets and for the life of me I can’t remember the name…it’s the one with all the stamps for the round tab punch. The ribbon was a piece that came with an order from one of my favourite on-line scrapping shops so I don’t know the manufacturer. The CS is Real Red and Old Olive.

I hope you all find time to play along in this week’s challenge…I had heaps of fun trying to find as many polka dotted things as possible to put on this card :)

Have a great Sunday,

While I’m flying away :)

2009-04-24T12:30:00.000+10:00

I find it rather amusing to be sitting here typing this, knowing that when it (hopefully) publishes on Friday I will be on my way to Queensland!!!! I have also set my Magnolia challenge card to post on Sunday and I’m crossing my fingers that it all works the way it should. I will be back to *normal* by Monday, so you won’t even have a chance to miss me!

This is a card I did the other day for the SCS colour challenge but of course I have packed up the piece of paper that says which one it is and don’t have time to go track it down right now…if you really want to know you can find it in the list of colour challenges :)

So the challenge was to use Bordering Blue, Pink Pirouette and So Saffron, with Choc Chip as an optional colour. Obviously I chose to use Choc Chip as I thought it went well with the others. I used the cute Tilda with Tulips for this one and coloured her with Copics. I mounted her on dimensionals onto PP and the CC. The Saffron CS was stamped with the large flower from Cheap Talk in Saffron ink and then the smaller one in Choc Chip…clearly I did NOT use my stamp-a-ma-jig to line them up properly, but I’m going with the idea that the slight offset of the Choc flowers gives the background and extra charm…LOL. I also used one of the sentiments from that set and stamped it in Choc Chip ink. I used some Saffron embroidered ribbon from the retired Ribbon Originals and a couple of Primas with a rhinestone brad in the centre. Oh yeah, and I used the eyelet border punch on the Saffron panel.

Hope you are all having a fabulous Friday…I know mine will be because I get to see my darling nieces and nephew as well as Madonna and her lovely husband Mark. It’s going to be a great day for sure :)

Just a quick note...

2009-04-22T22:47:00.001+10:00

...to let you know that I have turned off comment moderation but turned the word verification back on for the next few days while I'm away. I've set up a couple of posts to go, one for Friday and one for the MDUC on Sunday. And I don't want you all to think I'm a big loser with no comments on my posts while I don't have access to moderate them.

Hopefully won't get any weirdness but you never know...I can always go back and delete them later anyway. I might have to have a poll about this...do you prefer not to have the word verification and what do you think about comment moderation...just curious I guess. You can pretty much say what you like now that I have no control over the comments til Monday....LOL.

See you then,
Kristie

Time to go…

2009-04-22T18:10:00.001+10:00

Well almost anyway! I am finally all packed, except my computer (LOL) and ready for the removalists to arrive tomorrow. I am starting to get excited about seeing everyone. I was just talking to Mad’s little Lexi on the phone…talk about CUTE! She told me that I could sleep in her bed…not sure if she meant I could share or what??? She’s so adorable with her little girl voice and when she tells me that she loves me, well my heart just melts :)

I thought that instead of showing you a card today I’d share some pictures I took last week of some of the statues that are dotted around the University grounds, seeing as it will be a while before I see them again. Some of them are really awesome and some…well I’m not exactly sure what they are, but they look pretty cool.

This last one is my favourite. It’s absolutely massive..though I’ve never quite figured out what it’s meant to represent, I just like the rounded lines and the spheres inside one another.

OK, better go set up a couple of posts for while I’m off-line and finish a few last minute bits and pieces. Then I’m going to sit and relax with some *Criminal Minds*….anyone else out there like this show? I’m totally fascinated with the profiling and the serial killers…not sure what that says about me!

Alisa’s CC 12

2009-04-20T14:11:00.001+10:00

Madonna’s upline Alisa regularly does colour challenges on her blog, and while I don’t always have the time to participate in them, I thought I’d better do this one since I was the one who suggested it! She had this gorgeous card up on her blog using Choc Chip, Pink Pirouette and Tangerine Tango and I was surprised at how much I loved these colours together. So in my comment I suggested that it would be a great combo for one of her Colour Challenges…next thing she had it up on her blog! So the other night I sat down to have a bit of a play and this is what I came up with:

I think it’s kind of cute :) Alisa always allows a neutral as well, so I chose Very Vanilla for the base of the card and using Choc Chip ink I wheeled the trees from the Funky Forest wheel across the bottom of the card base. Then I used the branch, birdies, flowers and sentiment from Cheap Talk to make the main image panel. The flower is the only non-SU thing on there and it was a white flower that I coloured with Tangerine ink and popped a little Pretty in Pink brad in the centre. This one’s so straight forward I’m not even going to do a supply list (ie: I am way too lazy to be bother today).

So, only three more sleeps before the removalists arrive and I am so over packing it’s not funny! My room is a disaster area and for a neat freak like me it means a constant state of high anxiety. I’ve got a lot of the boxes that are already packed up moved out into the next room, but everything in my room is such a mess, with boxes and newspaper and stuff everywhere. It is driving me completely insane and I just can’t wait for it to be all over.

I’m so tired and sore from all the packing that once I’ve posted this I’m going to go lie down…that is once I clear the boxes and crap off my bed! I just need to lie there and close my eyes and pretend that I’m not living in a horrendous mess, even if it’s only for half an hour.

Hope your Monday is much neater than mine :)

Hey there Cupcake!

2009-04-19T14:49:00.001+10:00

LOL…today’s Magnolia Down Under challenge (#8) has the theme *Cupcake* hence the reason for today’s title :) I had to buy this *Love Muffin* stamp especially for today’s challenge…well that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!!!!

Here’s the card I made:

Of course I had to make a chocolate cupcake (I don’t believe there is any other kind of cake…LOL) and I love green and pink with chocolate, so that took care of the colour scheme. Hope you like it :)

Cardstock: Pixie Pink, Chocolate Chip, Neenah Solar Crest (for the cupcake)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Chocolate Chip and Copic Markers

Stamps: Magnolia *Love Muffin*, Odd Bird Planet sentiment

Other Stuff: Wide Satin Choc Chip Ribbon, Designer Label punch, American Crafts Button (coloured with Copic marker), Linen thread, Certainly Celery DSP & brads, Dimensionals.

The lovely and talent MDUC DT member Debbie is having a massive blog candy giveaway today too. Go here to check it out. Look at what you could win:

The Prize (taken from Debbie’s blog)
- SU retired SAB set - Botanical Blooms
- SU retired hostess set - For a Friend
- Heidi Swapp clear stamp - Swirl
- See Ds Stamps - 2 x small stamps and the Noel set
- Kaiser - Mixed flower rhinestones and Fozz Felt
- American Crafts rub-on transfers - birthday theme
- Papercraft rhinestone brads
- Basic Grey mixed fibres
- Collections Elements - chipboard keyholes
- Scrapware minis - 1 set each butterflies and hearts

Pretty awesome I think…hope I win…LOL! But mine was the first comment and number 1 never wins…all the better for you guys then. She is also offering to ship anywhere in the world…so go leave her some comment love and this great prize could be YOURS!

Well, I have done a ton of packing already today…but my room looks like a box factory exploded in there :) I still have 3 days to go, so I’m taking it easy and there’s really not that much left to go. So I’m going to take a little Sunday afternoon nap…it’s perfect weather for it too…rainy and miserable.

I hope it’s sunny and nice wherever you are,

Too much going on….

2009-04-18T11:26:00.001+10:00

My life is sooooo crazy right now! I warned you all that my posting might be a bit hit and miss over the next week or so and I’m just telling you again :) I can’t find my mojo…I think I must have already packed it…LOL. Lucky I have a few things tucked away, or you’d get nothing but me whinging about how much I HATE packing!

I do have one good reason to explain my absence yesterday…I got my first SU! recruit :) The lovely Yasmin (Hi Yas!) who had bought some goodies from me last year sent me an email saying she was interested in joining up and after a bit of a chat on the phone yesterday morning, she came round to my disaster room the in afternoon and we filled out all the paper work for her to join up! I am so excited for her (and for myself too!), she is about to embark on a fun filled, exciting journey as an SU! demo. I think of it as the universe’s way of telling me that my decision to move back to Qld and focus on my SU! business is the right thing for me to do at this time. Nothing like a sign from above to reassure you that you’re on the right track. I hope that she gets her blog up and running soon so I can share all her fab creations with you all…..she’s uber talented :)

So onto today’s craftiness….

I made this one the other day for the SCS colour challenge (213), which was So Saffron, Bashful Blue and Close to Cocoa. Bashful Blue is one of my favourite colours and after doing this card I decided that I really don’t use it enough! I am also loving this stamp set, Bird on a Branch, from the new catty. The silhouette of the bird is just gorgeous!! I should also point out really quickly that the sentiment stamp is all on one line, but I used the Cocoa marker to ink up a portion of it at a time and the stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up so I could fit it into the Designer Label punch….tricky huh? LOL.

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa & So Saffron.

Ink: Close to Cocoa

Stamps: Bird on a Branch

Other stuff: So Saffron DSP (retired) Bashful Blue double stitched ribbon, Designer Label punch, Bashful Blue Button (OH, nice alliteration there!), Cutter Kit (for distressing), Stamp-a-ma-jig & Dimensionals.

I’ve already done a heap of packing this morning, and over the past few days, but the stuff that I still need to do doesn’t seem to have reduced much! It’s an eye opener to realise just how much ~~crap~~ stuff that one person can accumulate in just a year. I swear I have twice as much stuff as when I moved here a year ago. Lucky Mama has a nice big double garage to store it all in…though I don’t know how she’s going to feel about parking her new card out in the yard…LOL!

I hope you all have a great weekend….and think of me slaving away with my boxes, bubble wrap and newspaper, struggling with the stupid tape runner, and fretting over where I’ll get more boxes :)

Inky Impressions DT Call – stage 2

2009-04-16T16:18:00.001+10:00

Well, here it is…my card for the Inky Impressions DT call second stage! Nicole sent us two stamped images and a sketch that we had to follow to create a card. I hard fully intended to make two cards…but I messed up my colouring on one of the images and trying to fix it just made it worse (bit of honesty for you)!!!! The other card idea was really cool too :( I did think about pulling the image of this card after I took a photo of it and sticking it onto the other one…but the colours are wrong and you all probably would have noticed that they’re coloured the same. Oh well, I guess that’s why she sent us two images…I can just be grateful that I didn’t mess them both up :)

Ok, enough waffling on, here’s the card I made:

I can tell you one thing…whether or not I get accepted to Nicole’s DT I am going to be buying these stamps! The other two previews that I saw plus this image are absolutely adorable! The drawing is so realistic…this little cutie even has fingernails and toenails (which I gave some pretty pink polish to! You might have to click on the image to enlarge it to see). I love her big eyes and all the little details in the image…just perfectly cute. And whatever happens at least I have my Easter card for my niece Katie all done for next year!!!! I’ll just tuck it away in a safe place till then…she will love this one.

I decided not to put an image on the card front and instead put some extra embellishment by way of those gorgeous new filigree and flower brads from SU! They are sooooo heavy though…there’s no way this one would go through regular post!

Cardstock: Certainly Celery, So Saffron & Pink Pirouette.

Ink: Copic Marker for colouring the pre-stamped image

DSP: Regal Rose, So Saffron & Pink Pirouette.

Other stuff: Regal Rose wide grosgrain Ribbon, Flower and Filigree Brads, Dimensionals.

I hope Nicole likes it! I am unbelievably nervous for some reason. Probably because I really, really, really want to make this DT. But if Nicole doesn’t choose me at least I know I did my best and tried as hard as I could (all things considered).

Finally, before I go I have to say a great big thank you to all of you who commented or sent me emails about yesterday’s post. Some of you brought me to tears with your kindness and generosity. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful, caring and generous friends. I am constantly in awe that I can sit here in my room and yet make friends all over the country and from all over the world. So many wonderful people have found their way into my life and my heart through this medium of communication. I was so nervous when I began blogging, wondering who would ever want to look at what I made???? And now I have more PSF’s than real life friends. I truly wish I could have you all over to my house for dinner and playing with crafty things afterward….imagine what a wonderful time we would all have :) You have blessed me with your friendship and made me feel so incredibly lucky…I don’t even have the words to tell you how full my heart is right now, except to say a simple thank you and tell you I just adore you all ♥

Hello there…I have some news!

2009-04-15T13:29:00.001+10:00

Sorry I don’t have the cards for the second round of the Inky Impressions DT call for you today…I’m afraid I’m suffering from the crafting equivalent of writer’s block! It’s always the way that when you have to create something special…either in words or a card…then you get that terrible block where you just don’t know where to start. I have about 17 different ideas that I want to try for the Inky Impressions DT cards, but I only have two stamped images to work with…so I can’t try them all! Never mind…I will get there :)

Anyway, I thought I would show you the second card I made for Kristina’s CI #48….I ran out of time to get it posted then, but it’s kind of cute and I thought I would share it with you today before I tell you my BIG news….that way if you’re just here for the pretty pictures you can have a look and go on your way :)

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss & Whisper White.

Ink: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss & Choc Chip.

Stamps: Cheap Talk & Neighbourhood wheel.

Other stuff: Random SEI buttons & chocolate embroidery thread.

Pretty simple again…I’ve definitely gone back to the clean & simple look lately :)

Right…on to my news. This is a bit of a story, so if you’re not really interested that’s ok…just go on your way to look at more pretty pictures or do your laundry or whatever :) I’m going to tell you about all of this now because I feel like so many of you who read my blog and leave me comments are my friends, and I like to now about my friends lives outside of what they make in their craft rooms :) Also, what I’m going to tell you is about a big change in my life and I want to share that with you, my friends.

As you all probably know, I spent ten days in the hospital earlier this month. Now anyone who knows anything about the NSW Health system will know that the Royal North Shore gets you out of there asap, so to keep someone in for ten days is pretty serious business. I haven’t really talked about it much because I didn’t want to bore you, or have you think I’m looking for sympathy…I am not telling you now for that reason either, it’s just an important part of this story. Anyway, for the first 5 days of my hospital stay I was in a wheelchair (have you ever tried to drive one of those thing? It’s way harder than it looks) and the doctors were rather concerned that there was some serious damage to my back. As you may or may not know, I have degenerative disc disease…which basically means that the discs in my back degenerate at a much faster rate than normal and that they are prone to damage more easily than normal. Anyway, I have had problems with my back for many years, but lately the pain has gotten much worse and tests revealed that I had managed to give myself another prolapsed disc. On top of that the disc has two tears in it. Basically this means that it’s not doing it’s job properly and giving me lots of pain. So now I have 4 discs that are seriously damaged and won’t ever get better.

So, the doctors have put me on two different types of morphine tablets…one is a slow release and the other gives a rapid relief from pain (well reduces it anyway). This all means that I have had a lot of problems trying to concentrate on my studies. Basically, it’s been impossible to get any proper work done at all. After consulting with both the hospital doctors and my GP and talking it over with my PhD supervisor and family members i have decided that the best course of action for the moment is to take a break from study. At this point the plan is to take 6 months off and then re-assess the situation.

As the only reason I live in Sydney is to be close to the University for study, I have decided that I will be moving back to Warwick to be close to my family for both physical and emotional support. There are a lot more things that I am unable to do right now and I need all the help that I can get. i don’t now about you guys, but I feel pretty uncomfortable asking my friends to do my laundry or vacuum the floor…but asking my Mama to do it for me is not as bad :)

I am rather happy that I am going to be able to spend more time with my family and get out of Sydney…I really don’t like it here. I’m a country girl through and through and going back to small town life is going to make me feel alot happier.

So what am I going to do with myself? I am not the kind of person who can sit around doing nothing, so I am going to find myself a nice place to live (all alone with NO HOUSEMATES!!!!) and try and become a proper SU! demo, holding workshops and classes at my house to make it easier for me. I’m also going to try and sell my cards, both in a craft store in Warwick and through an Etsy shop I am setting up. I’m also starting a little business doing blog design and set up. I actually have been on a disability support pension for some time, so I will at least have some income. The other things will be to try and make some money so I can continue to buy yummy crafting supplies :)

I have given notice, organised my leave of absence, booked the removalist and by the end of next week I shall be back in sunny Queensland with my family. I’m going to be staying with Mama until I find somewhere to live and then I will be working hard to try and make this new life work for me. I’ve organised it so that everything I’m doing will be flexible and can revolve around my need for rest and recuperation.

If you’ve stayed with me and read all of this give yourself a big pat on the back…it was a bit of an epic huh? Anyway, I just want you to know that if I’m a bit sporadic with the posting over the next couple of weeks it’s because of the packing and moving and whatnot. I will return to normal as soon as possible :) I hope that you will all stick with me as I go through this big change in my life. For the last 6 years all I’ve known is academia and I’m slightly concerned about how I’ll go back in the REAL world…LOL! But I hope that everything will work out to plan and that I can make my hobby into something that is a successful business as well as fun for me.

I look forward to sharing this new adventure with you all, without your support and encouragement for my craft I would not have even thought that this would be possible….so thank you all for that. Even if we never meet in real life, know that I consider you all my friends and that you are an important part of my life…big hugs to you all,

Thinking of you…

2009-04-14T12:45:00.001+10:00

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed when I saw the stamps that are available for hostess product in this year’s Stampin’ Up! catalogue….especially for the level 1 product. So when I placed my first order out of the new catty I was in a bit of a dilemma about what to get. I finally decided that with my addiction to DSP I couldn’t go wrong with the 6x6 Patterned paper Pack. And I do have to admit to being a bit excited about having Basic Gray DSP. Anyway, when my order came the DSP was on backorder…I was slightly annoyed, but just forgot all about it until this morning, bright and early, it arrived on my doorstep.

When I opened it I was immediately smitten…especially by the Regal Rose DSP. The patterns on these papers are gorgeous…and there’s two different sizes of polka dot…well, I just couldn’t wait to play with them, so with a bit of cardstock, some ribbon and my trusty punches I whipped up a really quick card…I’m talking less than 15 minutes!!!!

What do you think? It’s really simple I know…but I think it’s so cute! I took my inspiration from the sample in the catty on page 18 if you’re interested….but my card looks nothing like that….LOL. I also got to use my new heart punch for the first time….I have had a little play with it of course, but hadn’t actually made a proper card…I love it ♥

Cardstock: Regal Rose & Basic Grey

Ink: Basic Gray

Stamps: The sentiment stamp comes from Trendy Trees (I can see I will be using that one alot!)

Other stuff: Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon, Full Heart Punch, Designer Label Punch, Large Oval Punch, Word Window Punch, corner rounder (told you there was lots of punches!)

So, as far as Hostess product goes, there are a couple of sentiment sets that I will probably get along the way…but I will be stocking up and hoarding this DSP like my name is Leslie….LOL!

OK, better go get ready for the weekly acupuncture session. Oh yeah…I almost forgot to tell you that the images and sketch for the second round of the Inky Impressions DT arrived in the mail today too! Very cute stamp I can tell you :) But you will have to wait till tomorrow to see it, unless you go check out Holly’s blog…she’s already done hers! I will be spending the evening tearing my hair out trying to make the most spectacular card ever, just to impress Nicole :)

Catch you later,

Some very exciting news….

2009-04-13T11:45:00.002+10:00

I know I said I wasn’t going to post today…but I just had to share my exciting news with all my friends :)

Yesterday I got an email for the very lovely Kellie, asking me if I would like to join the Magnolia Down Under Challenges Design Team as a FULL TIME MEMBER!!! Yes, I was a bit excited…doing the happy dance in my chair and of course I replied straight away to tell her yes!!!!!!!

So here’s my cool new badge:

I am so thrilled that I Kellie has liked my work so much that she asked me to join her team. It means the world to me….I know that to some people this might not seem like a big thing, but after the stress and hassles of the last few weeks, this has made a huge difference to me…cheered me right up & made me feel….happy & loved :)

So I also need to say a big thanks to all of you who come and comment on my cards and make me feel special too. Every single comment is cherished by me as an affirmation that I am creative (which I sometimes doubt) and that other people enjoy the end product of my time at my stamping desk. So thanks to all of you who visit and comment, and also to those of you who just visit and don’t comment….but if you’re one of those people, please…don’t be shy, let me know who you are, so that I can stop by your blogs and say hello too :)

OK, enough of the blather…I am going to go spend the rest of my Monday getting inky….I so love public holidays :)

Mojo Monday #81

2009-04-12T17:25:00.001+10:00

Here I am back again with a quick post for the Mojo Monday #81 sketch. It’s a prize week this week and I’d hate to miss the deadline….LOL.

This sketch was a bit tricky…trying to find images and sentiments that would fit the panels took forever…but in the end I resorted to using three different stamp sets to achieve the end result!

As you can see, I had lots of fun using product from the new catty…but I had to resort to a retired set for the sentiment panel!

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White & Watercolour paper.

Stamp Sets: Simple Delights, A flower for all Seasons & Cheap Talk.

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point.

Other stuff: Scallop Circle & 1 3/8” Circle punches, Pink Pirouette buttons from Button Bouquet, Pink Pirouette stripe grosgrain ribbon.

Ok that’s it for today….after 3 posts today I might take the day off tomorrow…LOL.

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #7

2009-04-12T14:26:00.001+10:00

Wow, I can’t believe we’re already up to number 7 in the Magnolia Down Under Challenges! This week’s challenge was set by the talented Debbie Pamment….and it was a real challenge for sure. The challenge is *Sepia*….yep, it was inspired by looking at old photos and that’s immediately what I thought of when I saw it. I don’t know that I really captured that look, but I definitely stuck to the colours…LOL!

I thought that this challenge called for a softer look, so I coloured Sitting Tilda and her chair with Su’s Watercolour Wonder crayons from the Earth Elements colours, with a little Blush Blossom and Pretty in Pink for her skin.

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa & Choc Chip

Ink: Black Stazon, Close to Cocoa & Watercolour Wonder crayons

Stamps: Magnolia’s Sitting Tilda & Su’s Lovely as a Tree

Other stuff: Prima flowers, Close to Cocoa button and hemp twine, American Crafter Thickers in Chocolate felt, Scallop circle punch, 1 3/8 circle punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Choc Chip wide satin ribbon, Aquapainter.

I hope you are all have a wonderful Easter Sunday. It’s days like today when I especially miss my family and really feel the distance between us. So, instead of drowning my sorrows in chocolate (I never even bought I single Easter egg this year! Though I do have a big block of Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut right here on my desk….LOL), I decided to buy myself some flowers from my corner store. They have the loveliest fresh flowers there…they always last for ages, usually more than a week, and they are the cheapest flowers in my suburb by far. In honour of Easter Sunday I’m going to share them with you….though I wish I could give you all fresh flowers in real life :)

Happy Easter to you all,

Major blog candy alert

2009-04-12T10:49:00.001+10:00

My lovely friend Kellie is having a massive blog candy giveaway on her blog today…she’s celebrating 15 000 hits since she started blogging in October last year! Yep, she is a serious superstar!!!!

Here’s what you could win:

This prize is huge!!! Want to know what’s in it?

10 Assorted Basic Grey “Sultry” 6×6 papers.
2 Magnolia Stamps
2Crafty Chipboard buttons
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 Purely Pomegranate Ribbon.
1 m Stampin’ Up! Double Stitch Chocolate Chip Ribbon.
1 m Stampin’ Up! Double Stitch Baja Breeze Ribbon.
1 m Stampin’ Up! Double Stitch Rose Red Ribbon.
1 m Stampin’ Up! Double Stitch Bashful Blue Ribbon.
10 Paper Pink Roses.
Stampin’ Up! Sale-A-Bration set “Congrats” Stamp Set.
Stampin’ Up! Stampin Spots “Rich Regals.”
Kaiser Craft Pearls.
1 Handmade Daisy by Sandie.

I know…fantastic right? I hope I win because of those 2 Magnolia stamps…you can never have enough of them!!!! Anyway, head on over to Kellie’s blog to see what you have to do to win.

I’d wish you all good luck, but I want to win it myself, so I’m not going to….LOL! I’ll be back later to show you my Magnolia challenge card for this week…it’s a bit of a tricky challenge this one. Oh yeah, and I’ll probably do another post to show you my Mojo Monday card too….it’s competition week and it closes tonight, so you’ll probably be sick of me by the end of the day….LOL!

Kristina's CI #49

2009-04-11T12:56:00.001+10:00

Hey there! Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but I decided on a whim to change to a 3 column template for the blog...and it took much longer than I expected to get it all fixed up...but I'm back and ready to go :)

This week's CI challenge from Kristina was heaps of fun! The second I saw the inspiration pic I thought of Basic Grey's Urban Prairie papers and SU's *Cheap Talk* stamp set...after that it was just a case of putting them together.

See what I mean about the Urban Prairie papers...a perfect match. Here's my card:

Isn't that paper just perfect? I also got excited and did the inside of the card too:

So there it is...I'm really happy with this one :)

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Basic Black, Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss & Whisper White

Stamps: Cheap Talk

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red, Pacific Point & VersaMark

Other: Basic Grey Urban Prairie DP, Scallop Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, White Embossing Powder, Kiwi Kiss button from SU's Button Bouquet.

I hope you're all having a lovely Easter weekend....I only just found out that you guys in the States don't get a four day weekend like we do here in Australia!!!! That really sucks...but I'll be sure to enjoy it just a little bit more than usual...just for you :)

2S4Y - Laura's Sketch 23

2009-04-09T15:56:00.002+10:00

Wow, what a crazy, crazy day I've had today!!! There's so much going on right now I feel like my head is spinning around like that crazy chick from the Exorcist !!! Anyway, I have a sweet little card I whipped up last night for the 2S4Y challenge for this week. It's been soooooo long since I did one of these in time to enter it for the prize, but let me tell you these are awesome sketches to keep in your inspiration book...I think I have every sketch the girls have ever don in mine. Whenever I am stumped for a layout I can go to one of these sketches and even if I don't follow it exactly, I get inspired to create something :)

Enough of my babble....here's this week's sketch:

As you can see from my card I didn't make a square card...but I did use a tent fold, so that kinda counts, right?

I told you when I posted the Raspberry Suite challenge card that I would use the Pink, Red and Kraft combo again, and here it is with a touch of white thrown in for good measure. Don't these colours look sweet together? I've used Riding Hood Red & Kraft cardstock and Pink Pirouette DSP & ribbon. The sentiment is from the new *Bird on a Branch*...yeah, no birdie on this card...it just wouldn't work for me, so you get a pretty butterfly instead :) I stamped the solid large butterfly from the now retired *Bold Butterfly* in VersaMark onto so spotty PP cardstock and then embossed it with clear embossing powder to give it some substance, before cutting it out and sticking on some white half pearls from the Pretties kit. The flowers were part of a RAK from Mad (thanks sweetie) and have a half pearl in the centre for fun. I've used some of the new PP striped grosgrain down the left side there.....this ribbon is delish...now I just need it in all the other in-colours! I've also had a play with the new Eyelet Border punch...you will be seeing a lot of this one...I love it even more than the Scalloped Border!!!!!!!

I just want to take a second to wish you all a happy, happy Easter. I hope you have a lovely long weekend with your families and enjoy being together. Some lovely chocolate wouldn't be bad either :) I'm going to be enjoying four days of no work and lots of play with my new stamps and things....I have so many ideas floating around in my head right now I need a couple of long weekends to accomplish them all...but I'll at least make a start :)

Have you seen this????

2009-04-08T19:19:00.001+10:00

Melissa at Creating from the Heart is giving away a brand new Cuttlebug on her blog as blog candy!!! Seriously, this is the best blog candy I think I have ever seen.

Go, check it out. (Oh, and thanks to Kellie for spreading the word) I would REALLY, REALLY love to win this one!!!

Raspberry Suite Colour Challenge 3

2009-04-08T11:58:00.002+10:00

I have really like Dawn McVey's Colour Challenges...they're cute and a bit different. So this week I decided to play along :)

I actually made two cards for this one...but decided that the first one was a bit too...busy...so I made another one that I much happier with. I'll save the first one to show you on a day when I haven't made anything....LOL. I wasn't sure about what colour to use for the *berry* in the challenge, but based on the colours in the graphic, I decided to go with Groovy Guava...and it's a chance to use up some of that now retired colour to make some room in my stash for the new colours. Anyway, enough of the blather....here's the card:

I've used the *Embrace Life* set for this one (pity the ribbon is hiding the sentiment!), and stamped the Cherry Blossom image onto Vanilla in Ruby Red and coloured the flowers with Pretty in Pink ink and a blender pen. I mounted that onto Pretty in Pink and then Ruby Red before sticking it onto the Kraft base. I used the scallop punch to scallop the edges of a piece of Guava CS and stamped the sentiment in the same colour ink. I then tied some Guava double stitched ribbon around that and mounted it onto the base with dimensionals.

I like this combination of colours, but I seem to find it hard to work with 5 colours...anyone else have that problem. I will probably use the Red, Pink, Vanilla and Kraft combo again...maybe with the new in-colour pink and red (oooohhhhh, that sounds very nice!). I do like how this version of the card turned out...clean and simple, but pretty at the same time :) (Oh yes, I do love myself today).

I hope your Wednesday is full of sunshine and flowers,

Kristina's CI #48

2009-04-07T13:10:00.001+10:00

I was so excited this morning to find my first order from the new catalogue sitting on the front patio. As the SU site said my order had shipped on Friday, I spent the whole day yesterday waiting for it, checking every half hour to no avail. I was thrilled that it was there when I went out to open the front door at 9.30am this morning....but I don't know what's up with the Australia Post delivery guy....I don't think he knows how to use a door bell!!!!! Anyway, I was waiting so anxiously for the order so I could play along with Kristina's challenge this week...it's got two of the new in-colours in it and I didn't want to use substitutes:

Such a cute photo huh? I wanted to use my new, and totally adorable, *Trendy Trees* stamp set for this one...I thought the Kiwi and Chocolate would make great trees:

I stamped the trees with the help of the stamp-a-ma-jig...a must have for this set...onto Whisper White and matted that onto Baja Breeze (that is such a pretty colour!). I stamped the sentiment in Choc Chip ink onto Baja and punched it out with the Word Window punch....a perfect fit. I matted it onto a large Kiwi oval and then a Choc Chip scalloped circle. The only new in-colour ribbon I ordered was Pink Pirouette, so I used some yummy Choc chip satin and popped the sentiment onto it with Dimensionals. The Kiwi buttons are from the Button Bouquet. Some really cute buttons in that pack...I think I will be using them alot!!!! I also think that Kiwi Kiss is my new favourite green! Sorry Old Olive, but you've been replaced!

So, a very simple, but cute thank you card! I needed one anyway, so this challenge worked out well for me :) I can't wait to have a play with the rest of my new goodies tonight. I will probably end up staying up late and making a whole bunch of stuff....new toys always inspire me like that :)

OK, better go finish getting ready for my doctor's appointment...lovely acupuncture today!!!!

Have a great day,

Midnight Madness #10

2009-04-06T16:55:00.001+10:00

I've been feeling bad that I haven't had the chance to play in Paula's Midnight Madness challenges for a while and so when I saw that she had posted a new one today I went and made a card straight away :) Since this is her tenth challenge, she is going to give away a prize....but only if she gets 10 participants! So why don't you make a card based on this graphic and play along....who knows, maybe you'll be the one to win!!!!

I kind of got carried away making this card, so I'm not really sure that it fits the inspiration picture, but I figure that since it inspired me to make a card then it's eligible....right????

The bunny and egg basket are both clip art images that I printed onto Neenah Solar Crest and coloured with my Copics. I am sadly lacking in Easter stamps...something that I shall have to rectify next year. But I'm not going to worry about it now, as this is the last of my Easter cards. I will show you the others later in the week.

The rest of the *ingredients* are SU! The sentiment is from *Loads of Love Accessories*, the DSP is Berry Bliss, the CS is Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. The ribbon is Pink and Choc Chip taffeta. That's it, pretty simple really and the whole card took only about half an hour to whip up. This one will go to Mama ♥

Hope you are all having a lovely Monday (though that seems like an anachronism!)

My first Magnolia Down Under GDT post!

2009-04-05T11:18:00.001+10:00

I am sooooooo excited to be doing this post! I have been waiting for this for what seems like ages :) My very first Magnolia Down Under GDT card and the theme is *A Baby is Born*. I really agonised over what to make for this challenge...I really wanted my first GDT project to be just perfect. Of course I realise that I'm never going to think something I made is actually PERFECT, but I ended up settling for this little card and gift bag set, which I'm fairly happy with....LOL!

The Magnolia stamp is Tilda with Lilacs, stamped on Neenah Solar Crest with Memento ink & coloured with Copics (same as usual) and the rest of the card is SU! The CS is So Saffron, Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink. The DSP is Pretty in Pink (from a RAK - we never got this in Australia). The brads are Saffron and Pink, the frame for the sentiment is Styled Silver Hodgepodge and the ribbon is from the now retired *Fairytale* ribbon originals. The flowers were punched with the retired *Spring Flower Bouquet* punch. The stamps are *Short and Sweet*.

The gift bag is the *Box in a Bag* from Stampin' with Di...you can find the tutorial to make it over on her sidebar. I used Certainly Celery DSP and Celery and Pretty in Pink CS. The ribbon is Pretty in Pink Taffeta and the buttons are Pink too. The flowers were made with the same punch as above. This is a really sweet little gift bag...and you can fit more in there than you'd think :) It would be perfect for some lotion and body wash (which I've done before) or some lovely chocolates.

I really hope that you'll play in the challenge this week...and as a special 1st GDT special deal I'm offering to send a stamped Magnolia image to anyone who wants to participate but doesn't have any Magnolias to play with. Just email me with your name and address, put Magnolia stamps in the subject line, and I will stamp a couple of images for you to try. However....I won't be held responsible for any ensuing addiction to Magnolia stamps :)

OK....seeing as I don't get to play in the challenge myself this week, I'm going to go do Kristina's Colour Inspiration for the week. Hope your Sunday is full of creativity and fun.

Mojo Monday #80

2009-04-04T15:05:00.001+11:00

I really loved Julee's sketch for this week's Mojo Monday and I finally found time to do it!

I started this one out with a colour challenge as well, but I didn't like the way it looked, so I pulled it apart and salvaged the image and sentiment and re-did the rest :)

Isn't this Tilda with Tulips just adorable? I just got this one and couldn't wait to play with her. I got a couple of other new ones too, but I'm saving them for future Magnolia Down Under Challenges, just so you don't get bored with them :)

I stamped Tilda onto some Neenah Solar Crest with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured her with Copics. {Quick question...are you interested in knowing what colours I've used? If you are then I will make sure to write them down and include them in my supply list}. The base is Rose Red, the layers are Very Vanilla, Choc Chip and Ballet Blue. The DSP is *Berry Bliss* and the stamps come from a Simply Sent kit and are called *Simple Delights*. The ribbon is Vanilla taffeta.

I am so loving Damask pattern right now...I'm very tempted to buy Dawn McVey's Damask set from PTI...but their shipping charges to Australia are outrageous! I might just have to search for something else. I lined up the damask stamp on the Vanilla layer with my trusty Stamp-a-ma-jig. The medallion was stamped in Close to Cocoa with the sentiment in Choc Chip and then punched out with the 1 3/8" circle and mounted onto the Scalloped circle. The little circles on the left were stamped and then punched out with the 1/2" circle punch. All the layers were mounted with Stampin' Dimensionals.

That's about it for today...I'm off to finish my Easter cards for the kids. I got a cute Bunny image from Squigglefly and have had so much fun colouring it...hope the kids like it :) Have a great weekend,

Caardvarks + Colour Throwdown

2009-04-03T13:36:00.002+11:00

I can never find the time to do all the challenges I'd like to participate in, so like I've done before, I've combined two different challenges to make one card.

This months Caardvarks Challenge is a sketch:

I really liked this one and so I combined it with this week's Colour Throw down (#36) which was Pink, Turquoise and Orange...a wild colour combo if ever I saw one...but taken from the logo colours of the sponsor...Our Craft Lounge. Even though orange is not one of my favourite colours, this combo works surprisingly well....albeit bright. So you might need your sunnies before you check out my creation:

I used *Bloomin' with Beauty* for the flower and bee images...the flower was stamped on Neenah Solar Crest with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Copics, the bee was stamped with Pink Passion, as was the sentiment from the now retired *Wonderful Words*. The DSP is from SU's *Petals & Paisleys* and the CS is Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise & Only Orange. The ribbon is Tempting Turquoise and I've used the corner rounder, scalloped circle, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches.

I think that about covers it :) I got a few cards made last night...though my Mojo was not really willing to be cooperative...more than one ended up in the bin (well parts of them anyway!) I even attempted to make a woven Easter basket from the tutorial over on SCS....and now have a great admiration for people who make baskets....it's waaaaayyyyy harder than it looks...LOL!

Before I go I just want to mention that Squigglefly is having an awesome blog hop, with tons of chances to win fabulous blog candy. Squigglefly does amazing digital images that can be re-sized to suit your every need, not to mention they are super cute and really affordable. You can print out each download as many times as you like...so I guess you can call them digital stamps :) If you want to see some of the great images in action (so to speak) then start here and follow the links to all the DT's blogs for the chance to win the great prizes on offer.

Hope your Friday is totally fabulous,

Kristie

Katelin & Thomas's Birthday Cards

2009-04-02T13:28:00.001+11:00

Hey there! Sorry I didn't get back here yesterday....my plans to have a big stamping night were foiled by a phone call from my Mama. When she phones we always end up chatting for ages and Tuesday night was no different....we were on the phone for 2 hours and by the time we hung up I just wasn't in the mood for stamping. Not that Mama put me in a bad mood....on the contrary, we were chatting about the fab holiday that the two of us are taking in July! Just in time for my birthday :)

Anyway, enough about my much needed holiday :) I wanted to make up not having a post yesterday by sharing the birthday cards I made for Katie and Tom, now that they have them.

Here's the one I made for Kate:

The little girl image is from Sarah Kay and coloured with Copics. The sentiment is from *Happy Everything* and stamped in Orchid Opulence and clear embossed. The CS is Orchid, Lovely Lilac and Pixie Pink (I think!). The flower gems are Kaiser and the white flowers were a RAK from Mad. I spritzed them with the Orchid marker. I'd seen flowers like that on another blog (cannot remember whose it was!) and although I don't know if she did them herself or bought them like that, I thought I could achieve the same effect with my spritizing tool....it worked really well. Oh, and the brads are Pretty in Pink and I used the Scallop punch for the border of the Lilac layer. There are more flowers on the inside but I forgot to get a photo of that....duh!

For Tom's card I used *Bugs and Kisses* and lots of green...his favourite colour. The base and the snail are Tempting Turquoise, the layer is Sage Shadow (again I think!) and the worms are Certainly Celery. The grasshopper and ants are stamped in Always Artichoke. I used the Scalloped circle punch and the large tag punch and attached the tag with a Celery brad. Pretty basic really...but I find boy cards so much harder than girl's :(

This afternoon I'm going to be working on changing the look of my blog....again. I bought a header and background from The House of 3 to try out. The main reason for that is that I'm trying to get better at designing my own....and hopefully in the future designing them for others...so I wanted to see how they did them and the easiest way is to buy them and test them out...IYKWIM????

That reminds me....if there's anyone out there who doesn't have a blog and would like one but just thinks it's too hard to do...get in touch with me by email...my addy is over in the sidebar. I'd like some *guinea pigs* to test out my skills on before I start charging for my services. So if you want a blog set up (either Blogger or Wordpress) for FREE then get in touch. I've been checking out the prices people charge for this and I am shocked by how expensive they are!!! $250 US to set up a blog is outrageous in my opinion....if you are just an ordinary person who wants to blog for fun then I don't see how you could afford that. Maybe if you were doing it as a business and wanted a professional job maybe you could afford that, but still it's awfully expensive. When I start my little sideline doing blog headers etc I want to make them affordable for everyone....so leave me a comment and let me know what you think would be a reasonable price for that kind of service..eg: a header, a background, setting up a whole blog with custom header and background.

OK, better go do some work. I have tons of things to get done, but the morphine is making me rather lazy (that's my excuse anyways)...

Have a great Thursday,

Kristie

Magnolia Easter Card

2009-03-31T13:17:00.001+11:00

Hi there! Just a quick post to share the card I made for the Magnolia Down Under Challenge blog for this week. The theme of the challenge is Easter...fairly appropriate I'd say! It was good to be able to get one of the Easter cards I want to send out done. Being in hospital for so long has really put my schedule out and I'm going to be pushing it to get everything done in time....oh well, that's life isn't it??? Enough of the blather...here's the card:

I've taken the colours from the Spring Fling DSP that I used across the centre of the card: Sage Shadow for the base, Pretty in Pink for the large layer, and So Saffron for the layer under the image. I'm not sure about the name of this Tilda...I think it's Tilda in the Cherry Dress? It was a RAK from Kristy (thanks Princess!). I coloured her with SU markers: Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow, Barely Banana, and Blush Blossom for the skin.

The *happy* is a rubon (part of a phrase) from the Hidden Garden rubons and *Easter* is Pink Paislee Fashion Script stickers. The ribbon is Pretty in Pink grosgrain and the *eggs* are made with Spring Fling DSP punched with the small oval punch from SU. The final touch for this card, and one which I think really adds to the Easter feel, is that I stamped the Easter eggs from the Loads of Love Accessories stamp set all around the edge of the Pink layer in Pretty in Pink ink. It's subtle, but IRL it looks great.

So there you have it. I'm working on my first GDT Magnolia card for Sunday. I want it to be perfect, but maybe I'm just trying too hard...LOL!

OK, better go get ready for my doctors visit...after all the doctors I saw while I was in hospital I'd rather not, but I need more drugs...LMBO. I've got a few ideas for some projects and hope to get in some serious stamping time tonight so that I've got some cute things to show you over the next few days.

Hope you all have a wonderful day,

Kristie

So Much Good News

2009-03-30T12:35:00.001+11:00

After all the pain and hassle of the past couple of weeks it's really exciting to be able to share some GOOD NEWS with you today. First up....the lovely Kellie Winnell has asked me to be one of the Guest Designers for the Magnolia Down Under Challenges!!! You should have seen how excited I was when I got the email from Kellie....if I had been at all capable I would have been dancing around like a lunatic!!!! Kellie has helped me to fulfil one of my goals for this year of being on a DT and I couldn't be more thrilled that it's the MDUC team. My first GDT post will be next Sunday and here's the cute badge that we get to display on our blogs:

The second piece of good news is that I made it to the second round for Nicole's Inky Impressions DT call!!! I'm really excited about getting to have a play with some of Nicole's gorgeous stamps for the next part of the process! I was so happy to see my name on the list on Saturday morning when I finally got round to checking....especially since some of the other ladies who made the cut are amazingly talented and there was 122 applicants!!!!!

The next bit of good news is that I won some blog candy from the fabulous Miss Lydia of Understand Blue. The prize is some Sakura Glaze pens (blue of course) and I've been wanting to try these out...so I'm thrilled to bits to win them :)

Finally, I wanted to share with you the gorgeous get well card that my lovely friend Kay sent me while I was in hospital. It was so nice to find it waiting for me when I got home. She is as sweet as she is thoughtful and I consider myself lucky to have such wonderful friends.

I haven't got anything of my own to show you. The only thing I've managed to create since coming home is a birthday card for my nephew Tom who turned 5 last week...it should have been done earlier of course, but going into hospital put paid to that. I also have a card for Katelin, who turned 7 last week as well....but I don't want to show them before the kids get them because Mad likes to be surprised, rather than seeing them on the blog first :)

Hopefully I will get the Magnolia challenge for this week done tonight and have that to share with you all tomorrow.

Hope your Monday is a good one,

Kristie

Bling it on!

2009-03-28T20:37:00.003+11:00

Yay for me...I'm out of hospital and home at last!!!! I got home last night and I don't think I've ever been so glad to sleep in my own bed! Not to mention the huge plus of NOT being woken at 6am to take pills :) Hospital pretty much sucks and ten days is about 9 days too many!!!

I'm seriously looking forward to catching up on what you've all been up to, but with over a thousand items in my Google reader it might take a while to get there! I do want to send out a huge thank you to everyone who sent get well wishes...I appreciated each and every one of them. Also a big thanks to the lovely Kay for the gorgeous get well card that was waiting for me when I got home last night...you made my day!

After settling in and catching up on my sleep, I found some time to enter the latest Magnolia Down Under Challenge. Unfortunately I missed the last one and therefore miss out on the chance to win the cool prize from Bizzy Bec's :( But I was determined to do this challenge, which was thought up by my lovely friend (Princess) Kristy....Bling it on! The name says it all really and after almost two weeks of being deprived of my craft supplies I think I went a little overboard with the bling....LOL!!!
There's three different kinds of glitter, as well as sparkly blue rhinestone brads. I wanted to use some glittery DP too, but should have found that first to match the colours I used for my Tilda :) Anyway, I've made a departure from my favoured pinks and purples this week to go with various shades of blue, green, and blue/green. The card base is Taken with Teal; the ribbon, DSP and CS under all that blue glitter is Tempting Turquoise; the flowers are from Prima; the stamps are Magnolia; and I've used about 20 different Copic markers to colour with!

For those of you who are wondering about the payback for Mad's posting of that hideously embarrassing photo....well, I'm working on something truly devastating....I can promise that she will be very, very sorry for that misdemeanor indeed!!!!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend....I know that I will now that I'm free and able to eat pizza!!!!!

Kristie

Pick Me! Pick Me!!

2009-03-23T22:15:00.004+11:00

Hello dear readers,

Well, poor Kristie is still encumbered in hospital. I'm very norty and i've hacked into her blog again. She's going to have to change her passwords when they let her out.....IF they let her out!! Perhaps the physc tests didn't go so well eh?? LOL!! Hospitals are horrid places & I really feel for the poor love being stuck there! I wish I could go visit!

Anyway, as i've hacked in I thought y'all might like to see a funny funny picture I found recently while cleaning up. It's all 5 {shock} of the kids in our family!! See if you can pick which one Kristie is!! I am the CUTEST one (there's a hint). She's so gonna kill me for posting this but oh my....i'm nearly in stitches here!!

Ok I'm sure Kristie will be back soon. If not I'll get on here again and post something else equally amusing!! (well, amusing to ME anyway!!)

Madonna

Ps - I have given Kristie all your hugs and wishes over the phone and i'm sure she'll be in touch when she's released....errr.... I mean home!! :-)

Still MIA Update

2009-03-21T16:40:00.003+11:00

Hello dear readers,

This is Madonna here. I've hacked into Kristie's blog to post an update on her for you. Although now I'm here......ooooohhh the things I could do...mwhahahahahhaaaa.

She's still in hospital unfortunately. No operation required however it's taking so long because a full psych evaluation takes forever!!! LOL no just kidding!! Hopefully she'll be out Monday!! If not, I've kept her login and password details and I'll be back to amuse you all again!!

Madonna

MIA for a couple of days....

2009-03-17T18:35:00.002+11:00

Just a quick note to let you all know that I will be away for a couple of days. I have to go into hospital for some tests...unfortunately! The worst part is that I have to go right now, tonight and I don't have time to prepare any posts or anything for your viewing pleasure :)

With any luck I'll be out asap after they poke and prod me some and take pretty pictures of my insides. Worst case scenario is an operation :( But if that's the case then I'm sure Madonna will let you know....so if I'm MIA for more than a couple of days check out Mad's blog (link in the list to the right) and she'll have all the info.

I'll leave you with a pretty picture of a wall hanging that I made with some GORGEOUS, sparkly DP that I couldn't bear to chop up and some BG chipboard letters on acetate. I'll give you all the info on it when I get back.
Big hugs to you all
Kristie

More Elite Challenges

2009-03-16T18:05:00.003+11:00

These are the other 2 cards that I completed for the Elite monthly challenges. Every month the SU group that I'm a part of has three different challenges: a stamp set (which you saw yesterday), a colour combo, and a sketch. It's not compulsory to take part, but just a way to kick start your creativity. What I really like about it is seeing what everyone comes up with. We all start within the same parameters and yet end up with completely different results....IYKWIM?

So, here's my card for the colour challenge...Wild Orchid Nights (Carol comes up with the BEST names for these)...Wild Wasabi, Orchid Opulence and Night of Navy:
I used Office Accouterments (about to retire) and the small leaf is from Lovely as a Tree. The hodgepodge hardware is Styled Silver, the Rhinestone brad is from the Pretties Kit, the 5 Petal Flower Punch and the Designer Label punch were used, and the ribbon is the long retired Light Orchid...but I love it and it goes perfectly :)

This next one for the sketch challenge and was based on a card in our current (not for long) catty. And Lauren said I never do clean and simple anymore!!!!
This one has 2 about to retire sets...Bold Butterfly and Wonderful Words. There's some White taffeta ribbon, silver brads, a large clear button and the CS is Kraft, Pixie Pink and Not Quite Navy. I really like this colour combo...which I *invented* all by myself for once ;)

There we go, a couple of fairly simple cards for a Monday! To tell the truth, I have a BAD case of Mondayitis today....or maybe it's just the lack of chocolate in the house :) So here's hoping your Monday was/is alot cheerier than mine!

Kristie

Happy Mail and an Elite Challenge

2009-03-15T15:48:00.005+11:00

I was very excited to find a card from my niece Katelin in my mail box on Thursday. I knew that she had made a card especially for me....and that she had wanted to do layers! How cute is it that she even knows what that is? She will be turning 7 later this month and her card making skills clearly come from her very talented Mummy :)She did the water colouring on this card using SU's Watercolour Wonder crayons. I nearly had a heart attack when Mad told me that she'd let the kids use them...I guess that's just 'cause I don't have any kids myself....but Kate did a wonderful job with this card....and the hand written message inside is enough to melt your heart...her first words are *I love you*! This is something that I will treasure forever....thanks Kate ♥

I thought I'd show you one of the cards that I did for the Elite Challenges blog...I have been very slack at doing these and am very proud of myself for doing all three this month :) This is for the stamp set challenge in which we had to use the sadly retiring Bodacious Bouquet. I actually ended up using all stamp sets that are retiring for my challenge cards. But even though they won't be in the catty anymore, they will remain safely on my shelves....I can't bear to get rid of them!
I totally stole this colour combo from Leslie. She had some cards that she'd made for her scrapheap challenge using red, vanilla and gray...I thought they looked awesome, so I made this card using that combo. I did have to throw in some green for the stems and leaves, but it still looks good...LOL! For a list of supplies you'll have to go over to the Elite blog....I am too lazy today to type them out twice :)

I hope you're all having a nice lazy Sunday.
Kristie

Inky Impressions 1st Design Team Call

2009-03-14T12:54:00.004+11:00

I'm pretty excited (and just a bit nervous!) to submit my entry for the Inky Impressions 1st Design Team call. Nicole's images are so adorable, I'd love to be able to play with them on a regular basis...so keep your fingers crossed for me???

We're supposed to submit 2 of our best creations that showcase our colouring skills, as well as colour matching, originality and creativity. However, I made about 6 different things and couldn't narrow it down to two....so I hope Nicole will forgive me for submitting 3 things :)

The first one is a gift box that I made with a matching tag featuring Tilda with Lilacs:

This next one is a Sarah Kay image...Picnic with Daisies. Both the Tilda above and this Sarah Kay image were coloured with Copic markers. The background on the Sarah Kay one was done with chalks. Oh, and there's a cute matching envelope. I used the same polka dot paper on both these projects, basically because I'm totally in love with it at the moment!
The final card is something a bit different. Both the swing and the Tilda were images stamped and sent to me by my lovely friend Kristy. I coloured them with watercolour pencils and a blender pen, before cutting them out and popping them up on the background. The background started as a piece of white CS on which I stamped the line of trees from SU's Lovely as a Tree. The trees were coloured and *thumped* with markers to give the variety of colour. I then coloured the sky and grass with chalks. I punched some little flowers from different DSP and drew in some stems and grass with a watercolour pencil.

This view shows how Tilda and the swing are popped up. It's very dimensional and cool looking IRL :)

So that's it. I hope Nicole likes them! It's rather nerve wracking to put your work out there to be judged in that way...but whatever happens I'm glad I decided to try...if you don't try then you'll never succeed, right?

I hope you're all having a great weekend and that you come back and see me tomorrow...I have an awesome *Happy Mail* card to share with you :)

Kristie

Kristina's CI #45

2009-03-13T15:59:00.004+11:00

I really love this colour combination of Black, White & Basic Gray....it's just classic and timeless. I also loved the cute hair clip that Kristina has used for the inspiration photo...& while I don't have any striped flowers. I do have some super cute black & white polka dot ones that immediately sprang to mind when I saw this picture. So, here's my card:
I started with a Basic Black card base, embossed the sentiment and swirl from the Sale-A-Bration set *Yummy* in black embossing powder and added 3 of the flowers. The flower centres are white American Crafts buttons, threaded with black cotton. I added a simple white panel to the inside for writing on & it was done.

I love a quick card like this...it took less than 20 mins to put together! So simple, yet the colour scheme makes it dramatic and interesting.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend...I plan to have a quiet and relaxing one!

Kristie

Down Under Magnolia Challenge #2

2009-03-11T16:55:00.004+11:00

Anyone who's been reading my blog for any length of time will know that I love my ribbon. I pretty much think that a card looks unfinished if it doesn't have any ribbon on it :) But when I saw what Kellie had come up with for the 2nd Magnolia Down Under Challenge I have to admit that I was stumped. How on earth was I going to get FIVE different ribbons on one card?????

The *Getting Tangled Up in Ribbons* challenge was to get at least 5, more if possible, ribbons onto your card. Now I don't now about you guys, but I was pretty hard pressed to get 5 on there, let alone any more! Anyway, I had to think about it for a few days before it finally occurred to me that the Ribbon Originals packs have 5 different co-ordinating ribbons and I could use that to my advantage...so, here it is:
I used the Beachfront Ribbons as they're all neutral and don't clash with one another...and they look really nice with my favourite purples! I also took a break from my Copic markers this time...not 'cause I don't love them anymore, but I thought that a lot of people don't have them (they are a tad expensive) and I wanted to show you that the gorgeous Magnolia stamps look awesome coloured in other mediums. For this card I stamped Tilda with Lilacs onto some SU! watercolour paper in Stazon and coloured her with ink from the lids of my ink pads (and a couple of markers for the small, tricky bits). She's coloured mostly with Soft Subtles...but her shoes are partly Basic Gray, the flowers, hair bow, and knee patch are the gorgeous retired Vintage Violet, the leaves and stems are True Thyme, and the sky is Cool Caribbean.

I mounted the water coloured piece onto some Basic Gray and then onto Vintage Violet. I attached four of the ribbons to this panel and then stamped the sentiment from the retiring Hostess set, For a Friend, in Vintage Violet onto some Perfect Plum. That had the white rick-rac attached and then it was mounted onto some Pale Plum and stuck over the ribbons with Dimensionals. The card base is Very Vanilla.

For some reason it all looks a bit crooked in this photo, but IRL it's not :) I can't take any more photos tonight as it's raining now and the light is shocking. I might have time to take a better picture tomorrow :)

OK, that's it for this one...but I challenge you to try and make a card with 5 ribbons on it...go on, I dare you :) Make it a Magnolia card and you can enter the Challenge too! Heck, I might even give it another try if I can figure out something different to do...LOL.

Hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday,
Kristie

52Q

2009-03-10T08:44:00.005+11:00

As you can see (if you're not just reading this in Google reader or by email subscription) I changed the name of my blog....well, at least in the header anyway! I took on board the suggestions that leaving my name as the blog title makes it easier to find...plus I didn't want to go through all the hassle of actually changing the name. So, what do you think?

I loved Lauren's plagiarization of one of our favourite authors, Douglas Adams, to come up with this title. I've also used some of my newly acquired digi skills to make the header itself....I'm really rather proud of myself there :) The digi papers and brushes that I used are all freebies that I've gotten from various places. While alot of digital scrapbooking stuff is very inexpensive, if you look around you will find tons of free stuff as well....some of it is really very good! I'm impressed with the people that have the skills to create these things...and maybe in another 5 years or so I might get to that level....LOL!!!!

OK, onto 52Q....

I've completed quite a few of the questions now and thought that today I would show you my *cover* page and the first question....

These *pages* are 7cm x 10.5 cm....perfect for my cute little tag box. I haven't used too many dimensional elements as I realised that if I get too carried away then I won't fit them all in the box :) The other thing that I want to mention here is that some of the answers to the questions posed are rather personal...and I'm not sure that I'm completely comfortable putting so much of myself *out there* for people to read....so I might not always show the back side of the tags....but for Q1 I've decided to show it (even though it isn't exactly spectacular!).

Just a quick run down of some of the supplies I've used....Bittersweet DP, Thickers & Primas for the front page. The Q1 page has a photo of Sydney that I sourced from a tourist website....I probably should keep better track of where I've gotten things from, but you can find a million photos just like this on any tourist site promoting Sydney. I've also been using my new Dymo label maker with different coloured tapes....you'll be seeing alot of it in the coming pages!

OK....enough procrastination! I better go do some work. Hope you have a great day, whatever you're doing :)
Kristie

Blog Candy Winner, DT Call & 52Q

2009-03-08T15:17:00.004+11:00

Just a super quick post today to let you all know that the winner of the Blog Candy was LAUREN!!! She did have 4 entries, so it's not so surprising really....and no, it wasn't rigged ;)

I'll get that into the post for you sometime this week Miss Lauren...I hope you enjoy all the goodies!

In other news....Nicole has announced the DT call for her new stamp company, Inky Impressions. You can find out all the details here if you're interested in applying. I have been trying to come up with a couple of WOW samples to apply...but why is it when you need your Mojo the most it seems to desert you?????

I've also been working on starting my 52Q Art Journal project. This is being run by Aussie expat Emily Falconbridge and you can see the info here....just go to the 52Q section in the sidebar on the right. Instead of making a mini book, I'm using this Kaiser OTP Tag Box to keep all my question & answer tags in....Cute huh? This way I can make them as 3D as I want and not worry about a mini book that's never going to close properly :)

I'm starting late and have NINE questions to do....I have started though and will share them over the next week or so.

OK, so much for a quick post!!!! Catch you all tomorrow :)

Kristie

Double Trouble

2009-03-07T14:02:00.002+11:00

Today I've got two Tilda ATCs to show you. I made these for the Tilda and Friends ATC Challenges blog. The name of the challenge was Double Trouble and you were to use 2 of everything on your ATC.

The first one is, suitably enough, the first one I made the other night, using one of the images that Kristy had sent me. I wasn't entirely happy with the way it turned out, but it's ok :)
I've used 2 ribbons (SU!), 2 patterned papers (MME) 2 doubled flowers (Prima) and 2 rhinestone brads(SU!)...I didn't have 2 stamps to use. The DP that I used is super sparkly...but it's hard to capture that in a photo!

For my second attempt I used one of my brand new Tilda stamps that came yesterday, called Tilda with Lilacs. I stamped her onto Neenah Solar Crest and coloured her with my Copics. These are the most fun to colour for sure :)
This one has two different coloured cardstock, 2 ribbons and 2 buttons (all SU!). It's alot less busy than the first one and I think that it would look cute made into a full size card...but we'll see :)

OK, I'm off to do some more colouring in...I've still got 2 uninked stamps to be playing with ;)
Kristie

Kristina's CI #44

2009-03-06T08:37:00.006+11:00

Kristina's inspiration photo for this week came from a children's boutique, with gorgeous little dresses in shades of pink and brown.As soon as I saw this photo I knew what I wanted to use to make my card....*But I need it...* by Hanna Stamps. This is what I came up with:
As you can see from the photo, I also decorated the envelope...and the inside of the card:
The gorgeous shopping Hanna was partly coloured with Copic markers and partly paper pieced using the beautiful *Berry Bliss* papers from SU...except for the handbag on the top right, which was done with a little scrap of Basic Grey *sugared*. I lined the inside of the card & the envelope with the same pink and white polka dot paper as I pieced Hannah's dress with. I also stamped some of the accessories onto different papers and cut them out as embellishments for the front of the card, and then stamped them in Pretty in Pink on the inside.

I had heaps of fun making this one....though all that cutting out and piecing together was a little time consuming :) I think it was worth it in the end though...it all matches beautifully!

I just wanted to remind you all that the Blog Candy giveaway ends tomorrow (Saturday)....so if you haven't entered yet you better put your thinking caps on and come up with a new blog name for me. I've had some awesome suggestions and there's one that's a hot favourite already! So, why don't you see if you can get me to change my mind? You can see the Candy post here.

I'll see you all tomorrow with another Magnolia challenge...this time an ATC!

Kristie