Wednesday, 26 January 2011

Flowers For You!

Today is Australia Day here, so 'Happy Australia Day' to all of my fellow Aussies! Since we're celebrating all things Australian today I've joined in the challenge from Aussie blog AnnaBelle Stamps :- Say It With - Emboss Resist, and I've also used Annabelle Stamps for my card.


I used the tiny flower stamps from Annabelle Stamps 'Helen's Party' set for my emboss resist background. I stamped them with Versamark ink on white cardstock and clear embossed them, then sponged Broken China Distress Ink all over the background.

For my main image, I used the cute 'Lil Molly' from Annabelle Stamps 'Lil Molly's Flowers' set, I also used the sentiment from the same set. I coloured Lil Molly with Copic Markers and cut her out with a Nestabilities Oval die, layered her onto another Nestabilities die. I used the Stampin' Up word window punch for the sentiment. Also used Kaisercraft rhinestones, ribbon and cord, blue cardstock from Pedigree Papers and retired Close to Cocoa from Stampin' Up.

I've also entered this card for Inky Impressions - Emboss It challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Thursday, 20 January 2011

Red and White with Ribbons and Pearls!

Hi there, I'm back again with another card to share! First of all, thanks so much for all your supportive comments from yesterday's post, it means a lot to have such caring bloggy friends! I'm so glad I have this blog as I find it very therapeutic making papercraft creations, it takes my mind off everything for a while.

I received some new stamps in the mail a couple of days ago, and for once I've used them straight away! The stamps are from the latest release from AnnaBelle Stamps - All Things Must Grow clear stamp set. I used Impress Poppy Red ink for the images and Versafine Onyx Black for the greeting. I used a Nestabilities die to cut out the image. My background is embossed with a Cuttlebug blossoms folder from the Asian set. Also used Martha Stewart border punch, ribbons from my stash, pearls, red and white cardstock.


I've entered this card in the following challenges:-
AnnaBelle Stamps - Say It In....Red and White.
CPS - sketch #201
Glenda's Random Amusing Challenge #100
- Use red on your card.
Papertake Weekly - Ribbons and/or Pearls.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you are having a lovely day!

Wednesday, 19 January 2011

Owl card and an update.

Hi everyone, I have a card to show you plus a bit of a personal update. I'll leave the update until the end of the post, so just continue to read on if you'd like to know.

I've used this month's Bling Sketch from AnnaBelle Stamps, ABSC033. I used the owls from AnnaBelle Stamps 'Hooo Loves Christmas' set, which as you can see is not just for Christmas cards. I figure this would make a great Valentine or Anniversary card.

I've also used Kaisercraft DP and chocolate pearls, the greeting is from the same stamp set as the owls. I cut out my owls, then coloured them with Copic Marker and adhered to some layered Nestabilities dies - circles and Blossoms. The heart is coloured, then cut out and layered with a dimensional dot. The greeting is also popped up with dimensional dots.


Well, that's the card now for my update. I had yet another CT scan 2 weeks ago, then got the results from my Oncologist last Monday. The news was not quite what I wanted, but not disastrous by any means. The cancer that I have had all along in my lymph nodes has had a slight increase in size (0.3cm, so they now are 1.3cm). My Oncologist didn't seem too concerned by this as it hasn't spread anywhere else yet, he also said that my particular cancer has not acted the way they thought it would all along. He encouraged me to take another 2 months off chemo before we start again on a new regime, so I have agreed to take this path. I'm a bit disappointed by the CT results, but I'm trying to maintain a positive outlook. It's really strange as since I've been off chemo, a lot of the time I don't even think of myself as having a serious illness at all! Maybe that's just me being stubborn and refusing to acknowledge that I do have this rotten disease.

If you made it through all my waffling on, thanks for reading/listening!

Friday, 14 January 2011

Let's Party!

Here's a fun card I put together yesterday for 2 challenges. The first one is Catch The Bug Challenge - Embossing, the 2nd one is The Pink Elephant - colour challenge of Pink, Orange and Aqua.

I've used a digital stamp and greeting from Bugaboo Stamps and coloured the image with Copic Markers, added some glitter......well, just because I could! I layered the image onto Nestabilities circles and Lacey circles die-cuts. My embossing part of the challenge used a Cuttlebug Swirls embossing folder.



The DP is by Kaisercraft, I've also added ribbon and paper string.

Thanks for visiting and hope you are having a lovely day!

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Butterfly and orchid card.

Good morning everyone, here's my card for today! I've used Darkroom Door stamps for my images - the orchid is from the Wildflower set, the tiny butterfly is from the Full Bloom Vol. 2 set, the greeting is by Stamp-It. I used Crushed Olive Distress Ink for the orchid and greeting and Brilliance Starlite Black for the butterfly - love this ink, it looks like a shimmery grey colour. The Designer Paper is Basic Grey 'Among the ruins' from Scarlet's Letter Collection. The cardstock is Stampin' Up Riding Hood Red, Basic Grey, the black is Pedigree Paper. The ribbon is also Stampin' Up.



I've entered this card for the following challenges:
Card Patterns - Sketch 97
Basic Grey Challenges - Dots and Spots
.
Moxie Fab World - Gray is the new Black challenge.
Let's Ink It Up - Anything Goes.

Please spare a thought today for the residents of the state of Queensland here in Australia. I'm sure you've heard of the devastating floods there affecting 75% of the state - to put that in perspective, it's an area the size of France and Germany combined! We won't know the extent of the damage and lives lost for some weeks to come yet. Already there have been heartbreaking stories emerge of children or their parents being swept away by flood waters, a lot of these people had no warning of the floods as they approached too fast to act. If you can, please donate to the appeal or help in any way you are able to!
BTW, if you think that climate change doesn't happen, well, this is the result of what happens when our oceans get too warm!

Saturday, 8 January 2011

Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger : Winter White

This week's Tuesday Trigger on Moxie Fab World is this gorgeous cake in Winter White.


I took my inspiration from the white on white colour theme and the dimension and texture of the flowers. I used a single butterfly instead of the flowers and layered it on a Cuttlebug embossed piece of cardstock. I stamped the butterfly onto vellum and heat embossed it using off-white embossing powder.(sorry, I don't know the brand - it was an unmounted stamp from eBay, if anyone knows please let me know!) The greeting is a little hard to see in the photo, but it says 'Birthday wishes' from the Stampin' Up 'Sincere Salutations' set, I also heat embossed it. I've added ribbons, lace, tiny pearls and a little glitter around the edges of the cardstock.

I had a hard time capturing the true colour of my card, but the cardstock and ribbons/lace are all off-white.



Close-up photo is below.



This is my first time playing at Moxie Fab World, I think I will be playing there often. It's also my first new card for 2011, hope you like it!

Wednesday, 5 January 2011

Birds and baubles.

Here's a couple of Christmas cards that I didn't get around to showing before Christmas.

The first one uses a Justrite Stampers greeting and circle frame, the frame is gold embossed. A very simple card, I just layered my 'bauble' onto Kaisercraft DP and added some red ribbons and a bit of bling.


The second card is even simpler and nice and flat for easy mailing! I just embossed white cardstock with the CB Swiss Dots embossing folder and layered the CB embossed dove over it, the word is from a Darkroom Door Yuletide stamp set.



I promise I'll have something new to show you next time! Hope you are having a great day!

Monday, 3 January 2011

A clean sweep for the New Year!!

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great New Year's celebration! We had a great time in Melbourne, although it was a really hot 40C during the day. We got to see two lots of fireworks, as there is an earlier family friendly display at 9pm as well as the traditional midnight display. We had a great view of the fireworks as they were set up on top of all the tall buidings, it didn't matter where you were standing you still got to see them. I was pretty tired after they ended, so no partying on for me, it was back to the hotel for some sleep.

For those of you who asked about the gift card tutorial from my previous post I've now added the link to that post or you can just click HERE to see it.

I don't have anything new to show you today, BUT, I do have some rarely seen photos of my craft room! Usually it's just a total mess that I'm too embarrassed to show, however, I've had a major clean-up today and this is the result!




As you can see, I now have a clear desk AND clear bench space. I'm not sure how long they will stay clear for, but it's looking pretty good for now. Notice that I'm only showing you one corner of the room though, LOL, the rest is still a bit messy and so is the floor!



Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Thursday, 30 December 2010

Gift Card Holders

I'm back again after my Christmas break! We had a wonderful Christmas at my daughter Hayley's home, we stayed for a few more days after Christmas too. The weather was a bit cold for the beach, but it was a lovely break for us both. I think my grand-daughter received enough new toys to stock a new store, but it was just priceless seeing her reactions to everything. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas too! We've been home for a few days now, but I've been busy shopping at the post Christmas sales, I usually stock up on Christmas papers, ribbons etc. for next year while they're on, I even bought a couple of gifts for next Christmas too......just hope I don't forget by the time next Christmas comes around.

Here's a few gift card holders that were quick and easy to make. I did find a tutorial on them, but ended up altering them to better suit me anyway. The papers are from Kaisercraft's 'Be Jolly' 6x6 card pad, the greetings are rub-on's by Imaginesce. No stamping on these babies! I totally forgot to take a photo of the card insides!

Edited to add: The link to the tutorial I found these on is HERE at Dawn's Stamping Studio. I did alter the dimensions slightly and used cord/twine for closing 2 of my gift card holders - I adhered the die-cuts to the top flap in those ones.






We're heading into the city tomorrow night to spend New Year's Eve in a hotel so we can go out and see the fireworks up close. We don't usually do anything much for New Year's Eve so this will be something different! Hope you all have a Happy New Year!!

Thursday, 23 December 2010

Christmas Trees

Hi everyone, I'm madly trying to get my Christmas preparations done before we head down to Torquay tomorrow (Christmas Eve) for Christmas at my daughter, Hayley's home. I spent yesterday baking some Christmas cookies, I still have to decorate one batch of them and find time to wrap presents! I think I will be having a late night tonight!

Today's card uses Sketch #95 from Card Patterns. I used the tree stamp from Annabelle Stamps Whoo Loves Christmas stamp set and coloured it with Copic Markers. I also added a little Stickles glitter to the baubles and used some Distress Ink around the edges. The DP is by Basic Grey from an older range, cardstock is Stampin' Up and Bazzil (lighter green). I also used some Sprinkles from Annabelle Stamps, a Fiskars border punch, the greeting is a Making Memories rub-on and the organza ribbon is recycled from a gift.



Since I won't be back here until after Christmas, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all my blog readers a very merry Christmas with your families, I hope you all have a wonderful day!