Dragonfly Birthday.

I've just come back from Bendigo after visiting my Dad. It's his birthday on Tuesday, so we made this visit a birthday celebration and took him out for a nice lunch. I made him this card using this week's Get Sketchy #40 sketch.

I stamped the dragonfly onto white cardstock, sponged some Tim Holtz Distress Inks around it and used some Kindyglitz on the body and the wings. I stamped the dragonfly again onto acetate, put more Kindyglitz on the reverse side and just cut out the wings when it had dried and stuck them over the 1st image using dimensionals. I should have taken a side-on photo to show the dimension, but forgot to! The background piece is brown Core'dinations cardstock embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, other cardstock is Stampin' Up 'Not Quite Navy' and 'Kraft'. Not sure who makes the dragonfly stamp, it was a magazine freebie, the greeting is by Flourishes.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Postcard From Paris!

The May theme for Inkurable Stampers is to create some Mail Art - envelopes, postcards etc. using at least one stamp. I haven't done any mail art before so this is a first for me. Actually, I'll qualify that, it's the first time I've done any STAMPED mail art! When I was still at school my best friend's family moved interstate. This was way back in the dark ages before anybody had ever heard of the internet, email or mobile phones and text messages, and we did actually write and send letters the old fashioned way. Anyways we would send letters to each other and would put a few little messages and doodles on the backs of the envelopes, but this transgressed quickly into filling up the whole back of the envelope and then we started on the fronts too........until you could barely see where the name and address were written! We were having fun doing this.....but then my friend's postie threatened not to deliver my letters if we didn't stop putting all that stuff on the envelopes......the big spoilsport!

I decided to make a postcard with a French theme for my challenge entry and used heaps of stamps! I didn't realize I had so many postal themed stamps until I started looking through my catalogue of stamped images.......some of them have never even been used before and I've had them for ages!

The techniques I've used are masking......and lots of it, and sponging with Tim Holtz Distress Inks. I used Tea Dye, Shabby Shutters and Broken China inks on the front of the postcard and Antique Linen on the back of the postcard. I also used a white Signo gel pen to highlight the Postcard word.

The photo below shows the front of my postcard, I've used heaps of stamps here and I'll try and list all the stamp credits underneath the photo.



Stampin' Up - French Script background stamp, Merci, Bonjour and Mon Amie are from the 'Carte Postale' set.
Inkadinkado - Postcard word.
Stampington - The Stroll (naked lady wearing a hat).
Stamp-It - Paris in the Spring (large stamp on the left with girl and large Eiffel Tower).
Hampton Arts - Paris Moments (I only used a small portion of this stamp - the Paris postmark).
Buzz & Bloom - 'Belle' word (from Those Girls in Their Hats set)
Cherry Pie Art Stamps - Post Francaise postoid stamp.
Card Stamp & Scrap - corner flower (from Journal Blocks set)
Ink and The Dog - background words (behind the naked lady).
Unidentified stamps - 'Journey' and 'Travel' words, and the small Eiffel Tower.
I think the wavy lines postmark is by Stamp Magick.

Stamp credits for the back of the postcard:
Stampin' Up - 'Carte Postale' word (from the Carte Postale set)
Studio Astarte - Rubber Stamp Mail Centre postoid and bird with letter.
Not sure, but I think the 'Greetings from Far Far Away' and the Postcard stamp (which includes the lines, 'place postage here' and 'original stamp art by:') are also by Stamp Magick.

This challenge ends at the end of this month so there is still plenty of time to enter. The challenges are open to Australian and International participants and Sarah alway has great prizes on offer for the best Australian entry, best International entry and best Australian Newbie entry - that is for first time entrants to Inkurable Stampers challenges. Check out the details HERE at Inkurable Stampers to find out how to enter.

Hope you like my Mail Art, I had fun doing something a little different this time. Have a great day!

Oriental Fan Card.

Here is a quick card I made for OSA's Card Layout Challenge #70. It's a very simple design with either Mizhuiki cord or a 3D embellishment added. I used a die-cut from DCWV Far East range, and because OSA is a stamping group I added a stamped border of Hero Arts fans on the top and bottom of the background paper - they're a bit hard to see as I used an ink (Versacolor Cinnamon) close to the colour of the paper for just a subtle image. I added some red fibres to my fan die-cut and layered it on grey corrugated cardstock.

Vintage Sweetness!

I've had this sweet little girl image coloured, and sitting on my desk for the past week trying to decide which papers, ribbon and cardstock will look best with her....and also a layout! I chose this layout from Annabelle Stamps blog and I'm pretty happy with how the card has come together. It's prize week on Annabelle's Blog, you still have time to enter if you hurry!

I was so lucky to win some blog candy on the Heartwarming Vintage blog, which makes and sells Crafty Secrets products. Sandy, the owner allowed me to choose any stamp set I liked, woo hoo! Let me tell you that I just LOVE the Sweet Kids set, I had been trying to find it here in Australia but had no luck there.....but now I have it, yay!

I coloured the image with Copic Markers and some recently acquired Prisma Color Markers that I found 2nd hand on Ebay at a much cheaper price than Copics....maybe not quite as nice to use, but not bad for the price. I sponged on some Tim Holtz Antique Linen ink to give it a more vintage look. The Design paper is from a really old Basic Grey range, called 'Oh Baby! Boy'......I really should use up my old papers before buying new ones! The vintage looking lace I think I bought at my local Spotlight store and the blue satin ribbon is from a scrapbag I got at a craft show. The green rhinestones are by Kaisercraft.

I hope you like my card, please let me know! Well, gotta go and cook some dinner...I have a Tai Chi lesson tonight........talk to you soon! I might even have another post for tomorrow!

Birthday Bear.

Apologies everyone for being MIA lately, I have been making cards.....I just have so much else going on lately that I don't have much time for blogging!

I'd already made this card when I saw Andrea's (Andrea's Stampin' Moments) Simply Saturday challenge - to use scallops. I used a Martha Stewart scallop punch on my card. The birthday bear is a stamp by Stamp-It, I coloured him with my limited supply of Copic Markers. I'm not sure who makes the Design Paper, it was in my scrap pile with the name cut off, I added a row of chocolate coloured Kaisercraft pearls and some stitched ribbon. The cardstock is by Stampin' Up, I'm so disappointed that 'Close to Cocoa' is being discontinued, it's one of my favourite colours!

I'm way behind with my blog visits, I hope to catch up soon. Thanks so much for visiting today!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mum's out there today! I hope you have a nice relaxing day being pampered by your kids!