happy birthday to you

When I saw the sketch from MFT blog I thought I would stock up on birthday cards following their sketch.  I don't have a MFT 'picture' stamp but I do love using their dies and I am starting to build up quite a collection.  So trying to think outside the square I substituted a stamped image for a series of balloons using dies from the 'christmas ornaments & stamp set' - I used the round bauble and turned it upside down to make a balloon.

and a close up
 
I do love the MFT christmas set and found that I could use the dot bauble string stamp as a border around small pieces of card.
I am also submitting this card to Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes and Secret Crafter - anything goes.
materials - Bazzill parakeet and waterfall, white cardstock; Jillibean Soup 'spotted owl soup' papers; MFT christmas ornaments and stamp set, MFT mini banner days die and alphabet set; MFT dies - wonky scalloped border and flat bottom clouds; Versa Color bamboo and sky blue inks; AnnaBelle Stamps olive paper cord; Kaisercraft pearls; Ranger white opal liquid pearls.
Thanks for looking.

"at your age ..."

Well I hope everyone had a lovely christmas and didn't eat too much!  For me I was very good when it came to food - I tend to over eat at christmas (love christmas pudding!) but this time I only had one serving of dinner and dessert!
Stayed away from the craft room the past few days and enjoyed the warmth of the sun (not too hot lately) and wallowed in the garden - with all the rain we have had this year (after nearly a decade of drought) the trees and shrubs are growing like crazy and we can't keep up with the prunning and trimming so I have been helping Neil trying to catch up - very happy to have a neat trimmed garden rather than a jungle :)
This afternoon I made a card following the challenge from CAS-ual Fridays - kraft and twine, followed the sketch from Mojo Mondays #221 and also submitting it for the challenges over at Wee Memories - anything goes and Top Tip Tuesdays - anything goes.

this week at CAS-ual Fridays they are teaming up with Market Street Stamps who provided a free digital stamp (I don't have any Market Street Stamps) so I used the image of the coffee mug as my inspiration and came up with the quote 'at your age drinking too much coffee can cause a latte problems' :)
materials - Bazzill kraft and apricot cardstock, AC cricket cardstock; Jillibean Soup 'watermelon gazpacho' papers; Market Street Stamps 'coffee mug' digital stamp, MFT 'mini banner day alphabet'; Stazon timber brown ink; Crayola colouring pencils; twinery twine; Spellbinders petite scalloped circles large, Creative Memories circle cutter; ribbon.
Thanks for looking.

You crack us up

This is probably my favourite christmas card that I have made this year and of course it is the one that is hastily put together at the last moment ... in fact I had to make 2, one each for Neils nephew and niece who are both at that age of first what do we get them for christmas and then what kind of card do I make for them! - the ages of very early twenties!
I have just got this Jillibean Soup 'eggcellent' stamp set and wanted to give it a go and so I came up with a sort of non traditional christmas card that is a little cheeky yet funky for young adults!

I followed the sketch from Cupcake Crafts and I am also submitting it for Top Tip Tuesdays - anything christmas.
materials - White card, AC powder cardstock; Echo Park 'everybody loves christmas' papers; Jillibean Soup 'eggcellent' stamps, MFT christmas ornaments stamp set; Stazon black ink, Versa Color mint ink; Spellbinders labels 4 dies; Ranger white opal liquid pearls; Heidi Swapp trim.
thanks for looking and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year.

You Whoo! happy b'day

It is hot outside at the moment and the sun is streaming into my craft room so I am happy to be out of there and in the cooler part of the house uploading a card I made :)
I followed the sketch from My Favourite Things Wednesday Stamp Club #51.  I have just started using their sketches and they are very user friendly.

Quite a few years ago I saw someone use an empty ribbon spool as a sort of nest for a bird so taking this on board I created a nest for my owl ...
 
and here is a close up of the nest ...

I am submitting this card for Party Time Tuesdays - use ribbon, Paper Playtime and Crafts & Me which have an 'anything goes' theme this week.
To make the birds'/owls' nest I removed the front of a ribbon spool keeping the back.  I covered it with paint and paper. Because the ribbon spool is quite deep (around 9 - 11mm deep) I tried to inset it on the card so that it doesn't stick out too much (really it is not a good card to go through the post!) by using foam tape.
Creating a trifold card I cut out a circle on the middle panel the size of the spool and poked it through from the back to stick out the front of the card.  If it is sticking out too much to your liking you can do what I did and that was to attach foam tape to the wood paper/orange card so that the front of the card is a series of levels rather than the card and then the spool sticking out - by layering certain parts of the card with foam tape gives it a more natural dimension - KWIM?
materials - Bazzill kraft and apricot cardstock; Jillibean Soup 'apple cheddar soup' papers; Prima 'small owls' stamps, MFT 'mini banner day alphabet' stamps; Stazon timber brown ink, Color Box chalk chestnut roan; Celebration grossgrain ribbon; twinery twine; Kaisercraft pearls; Inkssentials glossy accents.
Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday celebrations

Ahhhhh christmas cards are over and finished ... I have to say that I was glad to have finished the extra christmas cards for the family (for them for next years christmas!) I was beginning to become sick of the sight of 'merry christmas' LOL!!!
So now on to the birthday cards for the holiday season - there are 4 birthdays over this holiday period in my family - of which one is mine so I only need to do 3 and I have already have done 1 so that leaves 2 more and this is the first of them ... not sure which sister will get this one!

I have followed the sketch from Card Patterns which is very user friendly and allows for a nice clean and simple card.
I decided to try something which is not new to me but I need a bit of practice!  I used colouring pencils to colour my image - normally I am a marvy marker and blender person (I haven't jumped on the 'copic' band wagon!).  I have done several colouring pencil images but find it difficult to blend but I saw a video from Hero Arts on colouring with pencils and they used a white pencil to blend ... so that is what I did.  I have to say that I am extremely happy with the way the colouring turned out (although I do have a very sore hand!).
Here is a close up ...
 
I would also like to point out the red dots to the right of the image - the sketch had this and it wasn't until I assembled everything that I realised that I had no red pearls, rhinestones or even brads to put there, oh  crikey I thought (so Aussie isn't it :) ) I am not recolouring another flower in a different colour!  so I quickly thought and came up with punching 5 small circles from matching paper stock (using a normal hole punch) attaching them to the card and then applying glossy accents ... viola! perfect co-ordinating embellishments!
Since this is a birthday card I thought it would be perfect for the challenges from Paper Sundaes - celebration, Southern Girls - celebration and Secret Crafter - celebration as well!
materials - AC black cardstock; Lily Bee 'this & that' papers; AnnaBelle Stamps 'squared posies' stamps; Stazon jet black ink; Crayola colouring pencils; Basic Grey brad; hole punch; Inkssentials glossy accents.
Thanks for looking.

Celebrate Christmas

Thought I would try a colourful christmas card today.  I made this card for AnnaBelle Stamps blog - christmas 3 - make a christmas card, Designed 2 Delight - christmas trees, Secret Crafter - celebrations and Paper Sundaes - celebrations as well.
Using AnnaBelle Stamps Background By Design 4 stamp set where one of the borders matched the paper I had chosen!  I cut circles and stamped on them with different coloured inks and assembled my christmas tree.  I then wrapped twisted paper cord around the tree and applied bling to the tree and cord.

a close up of the tree ...
 
sort of happy with it!
materials - Core 'dinations sunflower card, AC cricket card; Echo Park 'everybody love christmas' papers; AnnaBelle Stamps BBD4 and the title is from AnnaBelle Stamps squared posies and MFT christmas ornaments; Versa Color canary, turquoise, bamboo, magenta; Provocraft circle dies; Carl pot and corner punches; Kaisercraft rhinestones.
Thanks for looking and enjoy your week.

christmas cheer

making the last of this years christmas cards - you know the ones where you get a card from someone that wasn't on your list (or you forgot them!) and so you have to send one back to them ...well this is one of those!
Following the CAS-ual Fridays challenge of a card with a co-ordinating envelope I made this last minute chrissy card and made it a bit of a 'celebration' feel to it for the challenges over at Southern Girls and Kaboodle Doodles.  It is a clean and simple card following the sketch from MFT Wednesday Stamp Club.

the sides of the card are embossed so I also embossed the sides of the envelope!
 
here is a close up of the hanging bauble ... and yes I went back to glitter even thou I vowed I wouldn't use it again after making sets of chrissy cards with it!
 
materials - Bazzill weeping willow, river reed card, AC crimson cardstock; Cosmo Cricket 'mitten weather' papers; MFT christmas ornaments and stamp set and Polka dot greetings stamp and die set; Quickutz polka dot embossing folder; Versa Color watermark ink, Versa Color olive ink; Allison Ed Designs heat set powder; Celebration crystal glitter; Derivan crystallina kindy glitz; Heat tool.
thanks for looking.

Red and Green Christmas card set

2 things I decided today - the first is that I am 'over' doing christmas cards and the second is that I am never going to use glitter again!  mind you I say that everytime I go to use glitter but I always go back and use it.
I tell you I am covered with glitter, the craft room has it everywhere and you can even spot it around the house - Neil said that there is a bit in the toilet!!! don't ask how it got there:)
So I made red and green christmas cards for the challenge over at Party Time Tuesdays, I used glitter for Cupcake Crafts -shiny stuff, and for the cards I followed the sketch from Inspirational Card Sketches #144.  I am also submitting it for Crafts and Me - christmas theme.

the above photo shows only 2 of the cards that I made - I was chatting to the family the other day and they mentioned that they didn't have enough christmas cards to send out to everyone and could I bring some over after christmas for next year ... at that point I only had 2 extras (try spreading that over 3 sisters and a mum!) so I endeavoured to make some more and decided that I would make each sister/mum a small card box set comprising of 4 cards in each - I made one the other day so that is one down and I thought I would attempt to make 12 (3x4cards) cards so here is one complete set including the box and I am submitting it for the challenge over at Top Tip Tuesdays - whose theme is gifts this week.

all the cards follow the same sketch from ICS #144 but have slight paper variations.  I completed all 12 and just have to make 2 more boxes (which is the easy part)
materials - red and green cardstock; Echo Park 'everybody loves christmas' papers; MFT christmas ornaments and stamp set; Versamark ink; various ribbon; Spellbinders petite scalloped circles large dies; MFT little open scalloped edge die; moss fine glitter; Alison Ellis Designs heat set powder; heat tool; Derivan crystallina kindy glitz; Ranger white opal liquid pearls.
Thanks for looking.

hoo hoo hoo merry christmas

And another xmas card! this time I took inspiration from the challenge over at Secret Craft 'all things great and small' and made a chrissy card with an owl.  I followed the sketch from Stamp Spot and I am submitting it for Wee Memories - holidays and Paper Sundaes - anything xmas.

the baubles are from MFT christmas ornament dies and stamps and I have shrunk them using shrinky dink plastic.
 
and a close up of my owl - I love the eyes!
 
materials - Core 'dinations brownie cardstock, AC cricket card, Bazzill patch card; Echo Park 'everybody loves christmas', MFT christmas ornaments and stamp set, Kazzazz small owl; Stazon timber brown, Versa Color mint inks; Aleens shrinky dink; Derivan crystallina kindy glitz; Kaisercraft rhinestones; Twinery twine.
thanks for looking

Enjoy the Journey

Hi there bloggers
After cardmaking my next hobby is cycling and both my partner and I are mad on anything associated with bikes.  We both have noticed that alot of cardmaking brands have bikes (yes even he noticed!) and I love that so as soon as I saw the Spellbinders 'sprightly sprockets' I had to have them as they look remarkably like clusters (gear cogs) on a bike!  They are perfect for masculine cards and so I made a card using them and following the sketch from Card Positioning Systems #248

and a close up - I cut the sprockets out of light chipboard and heat embossed them with copper embossing powder.  I love the way they turned out!
 
materials - Core 'dinations wheat and brownie cardstock; Piggytales 'billy goats gruff' papers; Practicing Creativity 'whole cycle' stamps; Colorbox chestnut roan chalk; Versa Color turquoise and brown ink; Spellbinders 'sprightly sprockets'; copper embossing powder; heat tool.
thanks for looking.

Pink & Blue xmas card box set

Hi ya bloggers
 I had a very productive weekend and accomplished quite a few cards.  Here is a box set that I made following the challenges from AnnaBelle Stamps blog - boxes, Scrapbook Boutique - colours pink, blue, red and white and Card Patterns - sketch #145 which I rotated.






I actually made my box out of white pasteboard and thought that this would be the hard part of this set but it wasn't - I managed to make it in around 15mins!  The difficult part was trying to make everything fit on the small area on the lid based on the sketch!
It was a challenge and I enjoyed making and decorating the box and creating 4 identical cards.

 
 
Since getting back from cycling I have been shopping and replenishing my cardmaking supplies and I bought a few MFT dies and one of them was the christmas ornament set along with the stamps - and I have to say this is a fantastic christmas cardmaking set.
materials - Bazzill red devil, piglet card, white cardstock, white pasteboard; Echo Park 'everybody loves christmas' papers; MFT christmas ornaments and stamp set; Stazon blazing red, Versa Color versamark ink pads; White embossing powder; Ranger white opal liquid pearls; Derivan crystallina kindy glitz; Kaisercraft pearls; Heidi Swapp trim, twinery twine.

Shaker card

Being in the Southern hemisphere we don't get snow at christmas time (beach sand is more apt!) so doing a card to incorporate snow is a little weird to say the least!  But the challenge was to great to ignore for me so I took on the challenge from Top Tip Tuesdays and Quirky Crafts which both had the theme for snow as their challenges this week/fortnight.
I made a shaker card and used clear small beads as my snow for my penguins -

you also pull the sides of the cards and up pops a surprise!
 
here is a close up of my snow!
 
materials - AC white, spinach and pacific cardstock; Echo Park 'everybody loves christmas' papers; Jillibean Soup 'christmas eve chowder' stamps; Stazon jet black ink; Creative Memories circle cutters; Francheville christmas ribbon, natural cord; Ranger white opal liquid pearls; small clear beads.
thanks for looking!

Merry Christmas

Here is a quick card that I made following a fabulous sketch from Inspirational Card Sketches ... I think I will be using this sketch again!

and here is my CAS card -
 
materials - Bazzill fern cardstock; Cosmos Cricket 'mitten weather' papers; Jillbean Soup 'christmas eve chowder' stamps; Stazon jet black ink; Spellbinders petite scalloped circles large dies; Provocraft circle dies; Ranger white opal liquid pearls; 10mm maroon satin trim.
Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.

Gift tag set

While away cycling we passed through Warrnambool where Neils cousin lives and we stayed with them.  So I wanted to make them a small christmas gift to say thankyou.  The challenge over at AnnaBelle Stamps Blog is 'say it with christmas handmade gifts' so I thought I would make a gift tag set using AnnaBelle stamps - Christmas scene baubles and Squared Posies.  I wanted to keep it simple and also as flat as possible so I came up with a series of tags that fit into a pouch that sort of is like an oversized american matchbox - I say American as in Aussie the matches come in a rectangle box and watching American tv shows they seem to be in pouches.  I have followed the sketch from Card Positioning Systems #247 for the front of the pouch, incorporated a ribbon for Southern Girls and I am also submitting it for this months challenge over at Jay Gee's Nook which is a photo inspiration of all things christmas but was more inspired by the christmas colours and natural colours - hence the greys and natural cord for the tags.

the front flap tucks in behind the bottom red strip with merry christmas on it.
here is a side view where you can see the tags tucked in
 
and the inside which holds around 15 tags - 5 x 3 different types.
 
Each tag has the title 'a little something just for you' which is from AnnaBelle stamps squared posies set and the bottom images are from AnnaBelle stamps christmas scene baubles.  I have left room between the title and images for her to insert a name.
materials - grey and white cardstock; Bazzill fern cardstock; Cosmo Cricket 'mitten weather' papers; AnnaBelle Stamps 'christmas scene baubles' & 'squared posies', Jillibean Soup 'christmas eve chowder' (merry christmas title); Stazon black ink; Versa Color - magenta, chateau grey, smoke blue, olive and sand beige inks; Spellbinders petite scalloped circles large dies; Provocraft circle dies; Provocraft 'red tag' alphabet dies (rounded tag); maroon 10mm trim; AnnaBelle stamps natural cord.
Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday

Hi all - well my christmas card list is now finished and now I am moving onto birthday cards.  There is a run of birthdays in my family over the Christmas - January period.  So the first birthday card is for my mother who will be 73 years old on Boxing Day! 
I love making bright cards and I am especially fond of Yellow and since it is summer down here I made a very summery card following the sketch from Mojo Monday #218.

I have used a very old stamp - it is 10 years old from Stampendous 'garden sampler' - I remember buying it and falling in love with the sun part of the stamp but once I bought it I hardly used it!  Here is a close up - I have stamped the sun serveral times on various papers/card and fussy cut out the images and relayed them to give it a more 3D feel to it ...
 
Materials - Core 'Dinations tulip and harborside card, AC buttersctoch card; Echo Park 'country drive' papers; Stampendous 'garden sampler' stamp, AnnaBelle Stamps 'party animals 1' stamps (happy birthday title); Stazon black ink; MFT little open scalloped edge die; Francheville black journalling pen; Kaisercraft rhinestones; Derivan kindy glitz - cyrstallina.
Thanks for looking.

You're an Angel

Hi All
I am so happy to be back home after a 4 week cycle ride up in the Wimmera/Mallee area of Victoria Australia - a beautiful place if you like flat, dry and farming areas!  Mind you anywhere is lovely as long as I am riding my bike.  But first I would like to share with you one of the down sides of the cycle touring ... the awful suntan line...

I also have a short sleeve tan line on the arms - I look shocking in a swim suit and people look at me when I am at the local swimming pool!
Anyway glad to be home and in my little craft room.
This morning I am finishing off my christmas card list and I have wanted to use this Angel digital stamp from Paper Pretties.  I made this card for one of my sisters' who just loves Angels.

and a close up of the angel which I used kindy glitz on here hemline and wings.
 
and the inside of the card is nice and simple.
 
materials - AC mint, Core 'Dinations poinsettia and white cardstock; Cosmo Cricket 'mitten weather' papers; Paper Pretties 'angel' digital stamp; Kaisercraft 'merry christmas' stamp; Color Palette  magenta ink; MFT little open scalloped edge die; Crayola pencils; Twinery twine; button; Striped ribbon; brad; Derivan kindy glits 'crystallina'; Ranger white opal liquid pearls.

I have made this card for the following challenges -
Card Patterns sketch #144 - I have rotated the sketch on its' side.  The colours are inspired from the challenges from Kaboodle Doodles (use christmas colours),  Paper Sundaes (use 2 of the following - red, diecuts, stripes or stitching).  The theme is inspired by the challenge over at Party Time Tuesdays (holiday greetings) and I would like to submit it also for Wee Memories (whose theme this week is 'free for all').

Well that is all for now - it is time to sort of the christmas cards to decide who gets what and to see if I have enough!

there's nothing like home

Okay just one more card before we head off - I started this card late Sunday afternoon and managed to finish it off between packing.  Jay Gees Nook challenge this month is a fab one - use holiday stamps to make a non holiday card!  funny that since quite a few challenges lately have been reversed (use non holiday stamps to make a holiday card!). 
So I used Stampendous 'holiday home' christmas stamp set to make a house warming card.  I used the 2 houses in the set, did a bit of masking and randomly stamped the houses.  I also used part of one of the titles from the set to make the title on the circle tag.

and a close up - I have used a button for the middle of my bow for the challenge over at Wee Memories - brads, buttons or bows.
 
materials used - Kraft cardstock, Core 'dinations harlequin cardstock, Cosmo Cricket 'mitten weather' papers; Stampendous 'holiday home' stamps, Sassafras Lass 'stitched borders' stamps, Kaisercraft 'wedding' mini stamps; Stazon timber brown ink; Provocraft circle dies; Crayola colouring pencils; 15mm satin ribbon trim; purple button; 10mm split ring.
Thanks for looking and for the next 6 or so weeks I am off again to resume my cycling - the back is better!

Just bee-cause

I really enjoyed my cardmaking this afternoon and I especially love making this fun card for Wee Memories - brads, buttons or bows and I incorporated buttons in this card.  I also added a little kindy glitz crystallina glitter to my little bees for Totally Papercrafts - use glitter.

a close up of the little bees
 
but what I really like about this card is the title 'just bee-cause' - I love making up titles with a 'play on words'!
materials used - AC pacific, canary and white cardstock; Lily Bee 'this & that' papers; Hero Arts 'be happy' stamps; Stazon jet black ink; Spellbinders petite scalloped circles large nestabilities; MFT flat bottom clouds dies; Creative Memories circle cutters; Carolee Creations tiny whoopsy teal alphabet stickers; AC foam giggles thickers; Derivan crystallina kindy glitz; Ranger white opal liquid pearls; Assorted buttons
Hey thanks for looking and have a great week.

happy christmas

Hi all - I thought I would try a card without stamping this afternoon ... I have a serious case of bad hayfever today and I thought somehow my stamped images wouldn't come out right in the middle of a volley of sneezes!  can you imagine it?  you would have to look at it with some serious art interpretation! 
So I made this card a very touchy feely card for the challenge over at Moxie Fab - textured to perfection

I used a white and red chenille pipe cleaner as one of 2 forms of texture as well as dry embossing the background.  Here is the close up of the pipe cleaners which I used to make my christmas bauble ...
 
I have also followed the fabulous sketch from CAS-ual Fridays

 
materials used:  white, grey and silver cardstock; Chenille pipe cleaners; Creative Memories circle cutters; Provocraft circle dies; QuicKutz polka dots embossing folder; red gross grain; silver cord; Cosmo Cricket metallic rubons; Kaisercraft rhinestones; Sassafras Lass 'stitched borders' stamps; Stazon blazing red ink.
Thanks for looking and enjoy your weekend.

Stampendous October card challenge

Hi ya - thought I would do the Stampendous October Card Challenge this month - it is a nice easy one - a Clean & Simple holiday card.

I have used the Stampendous 'holiday home' christmas stamp set and the dot border is actually from Stampendous 'fancy flourish' stamp set (an old set I think!).
I like how this card turned out mainly because I love to use non traditional christmas colours!
materials - Bazzill piglet cardstock, American Crafts powder cardstock; Stampendous 'holiday home' and 'fancy flourish' stamps; Stazon jet black ink; Marvy pens - blender 0, dark brown 18, aqua grey 51, cherry 65, sky blue 75, scarlet 94; Kaisercraft light blue rhinestones.
Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of your week.

wish you were here home for christmas

Hi ya all just a quick card I put together while I have time.  It is based on the sketch from Card Positioning Systems and inspired from one of the Hero Arts October challenges - use non-holiday stamps to make holiday cards!  I have used their Hero Arts stamps 'wish you were here' to make a christmas card! 
Now I live in Australia but my family live in NZ and I have looked each christmas season for christmas themed stamps that have christmas quotes that say something along the lines of 'wish we could be together this christmas' or 'wish you were here this christmas' or 'I'll miss you this christmas' ... etc.  I am sure I am not the only person that makes cards and would like to send a card to my family saying something like this!  So in the mean time I sort of put 2 sets of word titles together and mixed and matched to make this card ...

The main stamped image and 'wish you were here' are from Hero Arts while the 'home for christmas' is put together from Stampendous 'holiday home'.  I was pretty pleased with the way it comes out.  I really should invest in a very small alphabet stamp set - I have one but it is not quite small enough for cards and any title like the one above  would take up the bulk of the card!
materials - Bazzill river reed, red devil cardstock, American Crafts wine cardstock; Cosmo Cricket 'mitten weather' papers; Hero Arts 'wish you were here', Stampendous 'holiday home' stamps; Stazon jet black ink; Creative Memories circle cutters; Ranger white opal liquid pearls.
Thanks for looking.