I had time for one more quick challenge before my next round of chemo. tomorrow, (2 weeks comes around way too fast!). This one is for Doodle Dragon Challenge #2 at Doodle Dragon Studio Challenge blog, (Dustin Pike's challenge blog). The challenge is a sketch using one of Dustin's images. I used one of his cute dragon images, coloured with Copic Markers. The greeting is a Stamping Bella one, the DP is by Heidi Grace, cardstock is by Stampin' Up. Added some orange brads and orange satin ribbon and used a Martha Stewart edge punch. I also used my sewing machine to edge around the DP.

Thanks for stopping by, I probably won't have anything for the next few days while I have treatment. Talk to you all soon!

Oriental Challenges

I received some new toys in the mail during the week, Cuttlebug's Asian Bundle embossing folders, thanks to my OSA friend Sandra who was able to send them on to me from the US......unfortunately they aren't available here in Australia. Here's two cards I've made with them.

I think this embossing folder might just be my favourite one, I love this pattern. I used some forgotten supplies to highlight the embossing - some gold metallic rub-on! Just dipped my finger in and it goes over the embossing easily. This challenge was to use an Oriental crane, that's the bird variety, as the theme. I used a crane stamp from Art Neko, stamped it on mulberry tissue and coloured the body with white Twinkling H2O's and an orange gel pen for the legs. The gold kanji peel-off is the symbol for luck. FYI Cranes are symbols of longevity and peace in Chinese culture. In Japan, the crane stands for long life and good luck - I think I can use some of the crane's good luck and long life right now!



I used a different embossing folder for the second card, this is for OSA's card layout challenge #55. I turned the sketch on it's side, the circles are chipboard coaster pieces from SEI's poppy range, the kanji writing down the side is a stamp by Rubber Stamp Ave The embossed layer is done on Core'dinations cardstock, which I've sanded back...but in hindsight I probably shouldn't have sanded it as it looks too busy to me!

Thanks again for visiting!

A flower for you!

Sorry for being MIA lately, I've been around but have been side-tracked by watching the tennis! I had to be content with watching it on TV this year as the tickets I had were during my chemo treatment....it's the first time I've missed going to the Australian Open since they started having it at Melbourne Park!

Anyway, onto my card, I've done this for another of Andrea's Stampin' Moments CAS challenges. I used a Hero Arts stamp, which have been coloured with chalks using one of the Technique Junkie techniques......which I've forgotten the name of, as I did this image some time ago. I used a Nestabilities Label One as a frame (I used orange vellum for this), some orange ribbon and embroidery thread, flower gems and my favourite Cuttlebug embossing folder, Swiss Dots.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you have a great day.....it's gonna be another hot one here!

Simply Black and White!

This card is for a sketch CAS (Clean and Simple) challenge for the Simply Saturday challenge at Andrea's Stampin' Moments blog. I don't often make CAS cards, I'm always tempted to add more, but I like how this turned out!

I used a bird stamp from a Bella's clear unmounted stamp set, the greeting and flourish underneath it are from a Flourishes word stamp set. I used a textured white cardstock from Pedigree Paper for the base card and added some dots to the black scalloped Nesties die-cut with a white Signo gel pen. That's it!

It's been much cooler here the last 2 days, a welcome relief from the heatwave! Hope you have a great day, thanks for stopping by :)

Oriental beauty.

Well, the heatwave goes on here....the top temp hit 44C yesterday, and overnight was an equal record minimum temp of 30.6C....and that happened at 8.46am! I had the air conditioner running when I went to bed, but wouldn't you know it, we had a power blackout just after midnight! Fortunately the outage only lasted for a couple of hours, but it was still a shocker for sleeping much! Today was supposed to be cooler, but they've now upgraded that forecast to 40C.....ack!

The good thing is that it's been too hot to do much of anything, so I had another play with my Copic Markers and created this card for the OSA Card Layout Challenge #53. I took a little artistic licence with the sketch as I wanted to show a bit more of the lovely washi paper.

The beautiful Oriental stamp is by Stamp-It, an Aussie company, the gold triangle pieces are from a Cuttlebug die set. Also used a Martha Stewart butterfly punch, the butterflies have holographic stickers applied to the wings, and a gold kanji peel-off. The kanji is the symbol for beautiful.

I still need more practice with the Copic Markers, don't look too closely as I bled outside the lines....need to get that blender pen soon I think! Thanks for stopping by today!

EEK.......love without hearts!

My lovely blogging friend, Vicki (Stamped Smiles) from the USA, started up her own challenge blog late last year called Saturday Spotlight! Finally, I've had a chance to join in and play! This week's challenge is to make a LOVE creation withOUT hearts!

I had some new toys to play with this week.......I found some Copic Sketch Markers on Ebay for a great price, so bought 15 of them! NOW, I know why everyone raves about these markers.....the colour just glides on, they are so nice to use! The bad thing is that now I need lots more colours....and I need to get a blender pen to get the shading right! Don't be too critical of my efforts with my 1st colouring job, I'm not too keen on the mouse's colour, a blender pen would've made it look a little better!

The stamp is by House Mouse, of course! The DP is by Heidi Grace and I used a metal word from a $2 discount store.

It's even hotter here today than it was a few days ago! The current temp is around 42 degrees centigrade (that's well over 100F!). I've really surprised myself this week though, I'm feeling pretty good so far! It's good to be able to get a few creations made over the last few days!

Thanks everyone for continuing to stop by, and it's makes me feel so good reading all your encouraging comments! {{Hugs}} to you all!

You Rock!

We are in the middle of another heatwave Downunder, and it is sooo hot! I've had the airconditioner running since early this morning, but I've raised myself from my lethargy and made a card this afternoon.

I've based this card on two challenges, this week's CPS 148 sketch and the Basic Grey blog challenge, which was a photo inspiration.

My Basic Grey paper used is an old one that I've had in my stash for a while from the Motifica range. All the stamps are from a Grace Taylor clear unmounted set (by Grant Archival), I used Stampin' Up Close to Cocoa cardstock and ink.

I think this card would be great for a teenager or a male.....might give this to my son-in-law for his birthday next month, he loves his guitars! Let me know what you think!

Thanks so much for dropping by, and have a great day in your part of the world!

Male Birthday Card.

I needed a birthday card for my future son-in-law, and decided to use this week's Sketch #31 from the Papertake Weekly blog.

The seashell stamp is by Ferngully Stamps, an Aussie company, the greeting is by Flourishes. The background for the seashell stamp is called 'Al Foil' from a Technique Junkies Newsletter. The Cuttlebugged piece is a mosaic embossing folder done on Core'dinations Black Magic cardstock, the pale orange background is the same Core'dinations cardstock but reversed. I don't know who the DP. is by, I think it's handmade paper and it has no identification on it. I added some black triangular brads, a seahorse charm and some thread.

Thanks for looking, it's back to chemo for me tomorrow, so I might be a bit scarce for a few days.