AnnaBelle Stamps ABSC035 - Sketch Challenge

I was honoured to be asked by Andrea, owner of AnnaBelle Stamps, to be the featured stamper on the AnnaBelle Stamps blog for the month of March. I will also be the guest designer for AnnaBelle Stamps March stamp release on March 15th and 16th featuring a blog hop and prizes to be won, so don't forget to visit then!

For my card I've used the new February release stamps called 'Easter Hope', it won't be long until Easter is upon us so I better get in with some cards early. I stamped the tulip image onto white cardstock and again onto some scraps of pink and green DP and paper pieced them onto the first image. I'm not sure what brand the papers were as I only had a few scraps of them. The greeting was stamped then cut out with a Nestabilities circle die, then layered on another green circle then a pink Lacey Circles die-cut. I used my sewing machine threaded with pink to outline my stamped piece.


The butterfly is made using a Martha Stewart butterfly punch, I punched 2 of them, adhered one down on the cardstock then placed the other one directly over it and sewed down the centre of it. I cased the idea from THIS post on Little Birdie Secrets blog, although I just used 2 punchies instead of 3. The pink layer is edged with a Martha Stewart border punch, my green striped ribbon and the Lime Sprinkles (bling) is also from AnnaBelle Stamps store. The cardstock is from Bazzil and Pedigree Paper (white)

This sketch challenge runs for a whole month so do give it a go, you have plenty of time to do it and there are always prizes up for grabs!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Mellow Yellow!

Hi everyone, today's card is for AnnaBelle Stamps 'Say it in....Yellow' Challenge, and just for a second challenge, I also used AnnaBelle Stamps ABS034 Sketch.

I have to admit this was way outside my comfort zone to even use yellow.....it has to be my least used colour, I have a real aversion to it! I was surprised that I even had some yellow DP, but I found some in a pack of mixed Heidi Grace papers that I got from a Fiskars clearance sale a while ago. I thought that grey would make a nice combination with yellow, so used some Stampin' Up Basic Grey cardstock for my background and for the Nestabilities die-cut flower blossom and label. My stamps are from the AnnaBelle Stamps 'Helen's Party' set, I used Copic Markers to colour the cake and used a clear Spica glitter pen on the frosting.

I also used some Stampin' Up yellow grosgrain ribbon and some unknown pale grey satin ribbon along with some Kaisercraft rhinestones.



That's it for today, I need to get off this computer now. For some unknown reason my DH took my reading glasses with him to work today.....very inconvenient of him! I'm having to use my multi-focals which make me look at the screen at an odd angle, I'll end up with a sore neck if I stay here much longer!

Hope you're having a great day!

Say It With.........Polka Dots!

Hi there! My card for today uses Annabelle Stamps 'Say it with........Polka Dots' Challenge. I used a new technique from the Technique Junkie Newsletter Feb/Mar 2011 called 'Curled Corners'


My stamps are all from Annabelle Stamps 'All Things Grow' set, including the little butterfly you can see peeking out from behind my Curled Corner. The patterned papers are from the Crate Paper 6 x 6 Restoration pad and I stamped directly onto it.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wee Stamps

I've just discovered a new digital stamp store named Wee Stamps from Scottish designer Sylvia Zet. There are heaps of really lovely designs available, so do go and take a little look!

Annabelle Stamps New Release and Giveaways!

Just a little reminder that Annabelle Stamps are releasing two new stamp sets tomorrow, Feb 15th! You have the chance to win some new stamps on the blog hop and there will be a special offer if you'd like to purchase the stamps.

Cameo card.

Hello everyone! I don't know where this weekend went, all of a sudden it's Sunday night already! I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend.

My card today is for the Moxie Fab World challenge - 'The Appearance of Cameos'. The challenge was to create a papercraft project that incorporates a Cameo/Cameos in an innovative way.



Supplies used:
Grant Archival Grace Taylor silhouette stamp.
Grant Archival Paper Chic by Christina Re frame stamp.
Stampin' Up 'Queen for a day' stamp from 'Taggers Dozen' set.
Christina Re damask DP.
Stampin' Up cardstock (grey), Pedigree Paper cardstock (black).
Oval Nestability die, Cuttlebug flourish and tiny tag dies, Heidi Grace heart pin.
Brilliance Starlite Black ink, Versafine Black Onyx ink.
Ribbon, silver twine, hanger thingy and silver brad - all unknown sources from my stash.

Chocolatey goodness!

Hi there! Today's card is a two-fer challenge. The first challenge is for Annabelle Stamps 'Say it in......Chocolate, Blue and Pink', the 2nd challenge is using the sketch below from Clean & Simple Stamping 126.

Talk about suffering for my art, I HAD to eat lots of chocolate to make this card, LOL! My flower is made from recycled chocolate wrappers, I thought the printed pattern on them was too pretty to throw out. I cut the wrappers out with 3 different sized dies from the Nestabilities Blossoms set and attached them to a Lacey circles die cut with a large brad.

Supplies used: Stampin' Up cardstock and inks.
Stamps - Darkroom Door Floral background stamp, Hero Arts outline heart, Stamp-It sentiment.
Ribbon and brad from my stash, Carl corner rounder punch.
Chocolate by Cadbury!

Hope you are having a great day, thanks for visiting!

An award!

I recently received an award from the very talented Sue, her blog is A Consuming Passion. Thanks so much Sue! Please go and check out Sue's blog, she does amazing work!


This award is to showcase some of the not-so-well-known blogs. We have some talented crafters out there and this is one way for you to find new and interesting blogs. All I have to do is nominate three to five blogs I read and want others to get to know .


If I tag you and you want to participate, create a post where you post the 'LOVE BLOG' image. You should also blog the persons link that gave you the award and inform her/him that you accept the award. You can then choose 3 - 5 favorite blogs which you also link in your post, then each blogger will inform you that they have been tagged.




Special Note from the Originator:
Dear bloggers:
The aim of this action is that we bring unknown, good blogs to light, so I would ask you not to blog fellow bloggers that already have 3,000 followers.


I chose 3 that I think deserve more followers than they have, because in my opinion they are very talented and make stunning creations...Please pop over to see their blogs - I promise you will NOT be disappointed.

Carole: Carole's Creative Corner
Vicky: My Paper Palace
Sonya: Pickles Patch

Year of the Rabbit

Happy New Year to all those who celebrate the Chinese New Year which began yesterday, February 3rd. I meant to have this post ready yesterday, but other things got in the way. This is the Year of the Rabbit, people who are born in the Year of the Rabbit are said to be sensitive, cautious and lucky!

I've made a couple of little hanging calendars to mark the occasion. I used the popular Haiku Bunny (AKA Mountain Hare) by Hero Arts, and the papers are by AED (Alison Ellis Designs). The calendars themselves were from a free download which I printed out onto a single sheet of copy paper and cut to a uniform size. If you're wondering how they are held together seeing no staples or brads there, what I did was simply use a line of repositionable adhesive to the top of each month and adhere them all together. I started by adhering down December with permanent adhesive then working through to January by placing the next one on top. I think I used Pritt brand roller and since it's repositionable it doesn't stick fast and they peel off like a Post-It note, so no messy ragged edges when you peel off to the next month.

Other items used:gold eyelets, fibre for hanging, ribbon, white rub-on numbers (Making Memories) and tiny black number stickers.

I've used the challenge from Daring Cardmakers for a card with an Oriental feel or a card with a rabbit. OK, this isn't strictly a card but I'll enter it anyways!

In case you were wondering about how my brother and his family fared during Cyclone Yasi, I had a phone call from him at around midday yesterday to confirm that they were all OK, thank goodness! I'd spent all night worrying about them and hadn't been able to get through myself on the phone as their power was out, but he managed to get through on his mobile. They only had some minor damage to their house and lots of debris littering the yard with his lovely garden in a bit of a mess. They were a bit worried about flooding under the house when high tide occurred as previous cyclones of a milder nature had resulted in up to metre of water, but this time they only had a water-logged backyard. Very lucky!! The main carnage was to the north of Townsville in the smaller towns of Cardwell, Tully and Mission Beach, but luckily most people were evacuated from those towns in plenty of time before the cyclone hit and so far only one life has been lost that we know of anyway, some areas were still unable to be accessed due to flooding over the highway.

It looks like we will be having a very wet weekend down here in Victoria as we will be getting the fallout from the last two cyclones. Some towns are on flood alert again, so fingers crossed they won't get inundated again.

Hope everything is OK in your part of the world, thanks again for visiting here!

Birthday Presents.

Hello to you all today! I'm a little nervous today as Cyclone Yasi, a category 5 cyclone, is about to hit Queensland near where my brother lives in Townsville. I've spoken to him today on the phone and they are all home from work and busy preparing for the onslaught. They were lucky enough to have not been flooded during the recent crisis up there, but there's no escaping this time! It's reportedly the biggest cyclone to hit Queensland EVER, bigger than Cyclone Tracy that destroyed Darwin in the 1970's and bigger than Katrina that hit the US a few years back. Hopefully they won't be in the eye of the storm, but cyclones are pretty unpredictable things. It's due to hit the coast at around 10pm tonight, so it's a nervous wait until then.

My card for today is a fairly simple CAS card using the sketch 125 below from the Clean & Simple Stamping blog.



I used the present stamp from the Stampin' Up 'Birthday Whimsy' set, the greeting is from a Stamp-It sentiment set. This card will be for my Son-in-Law's birthday, so I've used 'manly' colours. The cardstock is Stampin' Up Really Rust, Creamy Caramel, Close To Cocoa and Chocolate Chip, the white cardstock is by Pedigree Paper. I added a couple of embellishments with the ribbon, which I knotted at one end and stapled to the cardstock and for just a little bling, some Sprinkles from Annabelle Stamps.

I hope everything is well in your part of the world, thanks for visiting today!