So grateful for you in my life

Howdy everyone, not feeling all that inspired this afternoon so I thought I would do a CAS style card.  I was watching the 'colouring on kraft cardstock' video by Danielle over at AnnaBelle Stamps - Stamp, Embellish, Create and it got my creative juices going :) So following this weeks sketch from AnnaBelle Stamps blog, coupled with Southern Girls 'diecuts and punches' challenge and Splitcoast Stampers CAS172 love challenge and also Kaboodle Doodles 'anything goes' challenge I made the following card ...

 
when it came to assembling the card I used the following sketch -
 
somehow I arranged it like the sketch (in the middle of the card) but somehow it didn't quite seem right so after alot of fiddling I finally settled on having the bulk of it in the bottom right hand corner!
materials - Bazzill Kraft card, AC robins egg cardstock; AnnaBelle Stamps 'squared posies' stamps; Staz On timber brown ink; Crayola pencils; Spellbinders petite scalloped circles large and standard circle large dies; Fiskars round the bend punch; Ranger white opal liquid pearls; Kaisercraft aqua bling; 16mm light aqua satin trim.
Thanks for looking.

Congratulations new digs

Good morning all, it is a wee bit chilly here at the moment, I am hoping the sun will pop through this afternoon so I can go for a ride.  In the meantime I made this card for the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge blog.  I am loving Paper Smooches stamps at the moment :)  This week the challenge are Candylicious colours ...

I made a little picture frame and used chain links to hang it up on the wall.  I also created a little dimension to the room by drawing in a corner and creating a floor.
 
I used 'alphadot' stamps to create my title and substituted the 'o' for a button.
 
Paper Smooches SPARKS candylicious colours ...
 
I also followed the sketch from The Sweet Stop ...
 
materials - AC powder & robins egg card, Bazzill apricot & lemonade card, C'D harborside card; Basic Grey 'hello luscious' papers; Paper Smooches 'alphadot' & vogue abode stamps; Versa Color black ink; Tombow grey N75 pen; Signo white gel pen; orange pen; blue/green brad; chain links
Thanks for looking.

Birthday shirt

Generally we all struggle to make a male card ... but I recently got myself a Scorepal and absolutely love it and have been looking for anything and everything to score lately :)  While looking at the Scorepal website for projects I stumbled across this 'shirt' project.  It was in imperial measurements (I have a metric scorepal) so I had to convert but that was quite easy.  Here is a card I made for my BIL ...

here is a close up of the shirt ... I even went so far as to get Neil to show  me how to do a mans tie so that I could make one out of ribbon! (I didn't do a great job of it!)
 
I make this card for quite a few challenge sites ... funny how it ticks all the right boxes.
The sketch is from Card Positioning Systems, the male birthday card is for Crafty Creations, the shirt is for clothing challenge over at Kaboodle Doodles and for the dimension challenge at Creative Card Crew, the patterned paper design is for the dots/spots, stripes and ribbon challenge over at Quirky Crafts and the card is also for the 'bring out the old' challenge over at Top Tip Tuesdays where I have used patterned paper that is from Daisy Bucket designs 'Nantucket Island' papers from 2008 - OMG that is 4 years old and I have also used a paisley embossing folder from Cuttlebug which I also think is quite old!
materials - Bazzill grape & purple pizazz card, AC robins egg, C'D harborside card; Daisy Bucket Designs 'nantucket island' papers; AnnaBelle Stamps 'party animals 1' stamps; Staz On jet black ink; Cuttlebug paisley embossing folder; Scorepal; 6mm lilac stitched grossgrain.
Thanks for looking.

'micey' nice day!

Good morning everyone - I made a quick birthday card yesterday and forgot to post it on the blog so here it is ...

I followed the sketch from Card Patterns #166.  the mouse in a teacup is from Inky Antic - I love this set and it suits cards for both children and adults!
materials - C'D aquarium card, AC straw card; Lily Bee 'this & that' papers, Staz On jet black ink; Inky Antics 'teacup mousie #2' stamps; Sizzix oval tags, Cuttlebug circle dies, Creative Memories circle cutters; Basic Grey 'urban prairie' large brad; Ranger ruby red liquid pearls; 16mm red grossgrain.
Thanks for looking.

Monsters bloom!

 This morning while lying in bed waiting for the time to tick over to a respectable hour to get up (7am at least!) I was thinking about the cards I was going to make.  So over the 2 hours of lying there (I wake at 5am!) I came up with the idea of using my Spellbinders circle dies and making an umbrella, then I decided that I would use the challenges over at Southern Girls (about the boys), AnnaBelle Stamps (lime and orange) and CAS-ual Fridays (punches or dies) as my basis for the card ...
  
and here is the result ...
 
I used AnnaBelle Stamps 'lil monsters balloon' as my stamp and substituted the balloon for an umbrella made by halving a circle and freehand cutting inverse scallops.  Then once the card was complete I used glossy accents to create some raindrops coming from some MFT flat bottom clouds ... here is a close up ...
 
While also in bed this morning I was thinking of a title for this card and again I resorted to AnnaBelle Stamps 'ballerina rose' (I use that stamp set alot) I chose the 'in sunshine and showers FLOWERS bloom' quote and substituted the flowers for MONSTERS from the lil monster set ... I love how the title turned out ... for those that have children I am sure you would agree with the sentiment!!!
materials - Core 'dinations kiwi card, AC straw card, white and grey cardstock; Jillibean Soup 'apple cheddar soup' & 'watermelon gazpacho' papers; AnnaBelle Stamps 'lil monster balloon' & 'ballerina rose' stamps; Staz On timber brown, Color Palatte autumn orange inks; MFT flat bottom clouds, Spellbinders standard circles large nesties; Inkssentials glossy accents; Kaisercraft rhinestones.
Thanks for looking.

happy birthday CAS

hello everyone, I made another CAS card late yesterday and I tell you I couldn't believe how quick I made it ... I know CAS are generally quick cards to make but sometimes your ideas for it don't come to fruition so you have to reevaluate (sometimes more than once!) and so it is a CAS card that has taken ages! ... anyway this one came together nicely and was made in around 10mins! ... a record!

I used some flower dies from Marianne Design creatables and I scrunched, bent and fiddled around with them a bit so they are very 3D ... I am happy with the result ...
 
The dotted lines is a background stamp from AnnaBelle Stamps and I stamped one line, stamped the title and stamped the final bottom line.
I have followed the sketch from Card Positioning Systems and I am also submitting it for Top Tip Tuesday and Kaboodle Doodles CAS challenges.
materials - Bazzill juneberry card, AC white card; Paper Inklings 'family' paper; Stampin' Up purely pomegranate ink; Marianne Designs funky flower dies; Kaisercraft silver rhinestones; Ranger white opal liquid pearls.
Thanks for looking ... and hey the weekend is just around the corner!!!

happy birthday

Good morning everyone, finished off a card last night for the challenge over at Hero Arts blog - I managed to combine all 3 challenges in this one card!  first it is the colours (pool, orange, yellow, green & chocolate), then it is a birthday card and finally it is an interactive card (I made a tab slider card - I love those!).

here is the 2nd title revealed ... (you pull the tab up to reveal the message)
 
I used Hero Arts 'sending smiles messages' stamps which has great titles with co-ordinating 2nd titles and also little images of which I used the flower near the title and also a small circle stamp to create a border ...
 
The colours of this card are wonderful - I have used Jillibean Soup 'apple cheddar soup' and I have to say that I think orange is my new yellow!  So this colourful card fits perfectly for the photo inspiration challenges from both Through the Craftroom Door and Jay Gees Nook Blog.
Through the Craftroom Door photo ...
 
Jay Gees Nook Blog  photo ....
 
as you can see orange is the common colour.
materials - AC coffee, straw cardstock, Bazzill apricot cardstock; Jillibean Soup 'apple cheddar soup' papers; Hero Arts 'sending smiles messages' stamp; Staz On timber brown ink; Marvy pens; Carl corner punch; Ranger ruby red liquid pearls.
Thanks for looking.

you colour my world

Here is another card for this afternoon - another CAS but this time I was really inspired by this months challenge over at Scrapbook Boutique ...

aren't they just scrumptous enough to eat more than 3? :)
I found in my pile of stuff a laser cut chipboard title - originally it was for a 12 x 12 scrapbook page so I decided to trim it down to fit on a card and inspired by the rainbow I used my Spellbinders standard circle large nestabilities and ink to make my own rainbow.  Here is my card ...
 
I am really happy with the way the colours from different stamp companies came together to create a bright rainbow ... here is a close up ...
 
Since this is a CAS card I am submitting it for the challenges over at Kaboodle Doodles and Top Tip Tuesday and also for Cupcake Crafts whose challenge is to make a birthday card with no design papers.
materials - Bazzill black cardstock, white cardstock; Remember When 'you colour my world' lasercut chipboard; white acrylic paint; Brilliance moonlight white ink, Versa Color canary, lime, indigo, violet inks, Color Palatte autumn orange, magenta, summer blue inks, Staz On jet black ink; Signo white gel pen; AnnaBelle Stamps 'party animals 1' stamps (happy birthday title); Spellbinders standard circles large nesties; MFT flat bottom clouds dies.
Thanks for looking.

You are berry special

What a miserable day it is here in Melbourne, Australia!  It is damp and cold but perfect weather for cardmaking!  I made this card very early this morning (I am still on NZ time so I tend to wake and get up around 4.30am ... Neil is not impressed!)
I followed the Paper Smooches Sparks 'designer drafts' challenge, a colour challenge from Party Time Tuesdays and a Clean and Simple challenge from both Kaboodle Doodles and Top Tip Tuesday.

I really only have one word for this card .... and that is 'blueberries' :)
 
I stamped my most of my blueberries on purple cardstock and one (so it stands out from the rest) on a different shade of purple, here is a close up ...
 
I am taking a shine lately to CAS style cards :)
materials - Bazzill forget me not and jubilee cardstock, AC white and mint cardstock, generic purple cardstock, Paper Smooches 'fruitastic' stamps; Staz On jet black ink, Versa Color violet ink; Green paper cord.
Thanks for looking.

sunshine and smiles

Hi ya - I am back in Australia and comfortably settled into my craft room for the winter!  Yesterday we went up to Colac to pick up Kouta our little pouch and he went absolutely ballistic when he saw me ... I was very surprised at his response to me ... after 4 weeks he must have missed me!
Anyway the month of May has several birthdays in my family and this is a birthday card for my sister in law ...

I have followed the sketch from Card Patterns #165, included a bird for CAS-ual Fridays and Paper Sundaes 'things with wings' and also included stitching (faux!) for AnnaBelle Stamps Blog.
materials - Bazzill apricot cardstock; Jillibean Soup 'apple cheddar soup' papers; Autumn Leaves bird stamp, Hero Arts 'sending smiles message' stamp set, Sassafras Lass 'stitched borders'; MFT branch with leaves and little open scalloped edge dies; Staz On timber brown ink, Color Box chestnut roan chalk; Stitched grossgrain brown; flowers; crystal brad; Carl corner punch.
Thanks for looking.

Just for You basket

Hi all, how was your day today?  I love to make shaped cards and I recently discovered that my circle dies can make great basket cards.  The challenge over at AnnaBelle Stamps this week was 'say it in kraft, lemon & white'. 
Since I only brang over here to NZ my 'ballerina rose' stamp set from AnnaBelle Stamps I had to use that.  this time I used the larger flower duo and the leaves from the rose branch.  Here is my card ...

to make the baskets I die cut 2 of the largest circles and use the next die down in size as a template for my handle.  I cut away a semi circle from each large circle and then trimmed the bottoms so that the card sits flat.
I then cut kraft, buttercup and white strips of card and wove them together, attached to the main card base and trimmed the outside.  Here is the inside of the card ...
 
as you can see I have a love for liquid pearls and just love dotting away at edges!!!
materials - Bazzill kraft card, AC buttercup card, white card; Basice Grey 'hello luscious' papers; AnnaBelle Stamps 'ballerina rose', Inky Antics 'millie mouse' stamps (title); Staz On timber brown ink; Ranger white opal and buttercup liquid pearls.
Thanks for looking.

Mum ... you bloom

It is a raining today so what better way to spend the day but to sit down and make a card!  It seems to be 'mothers day' challenge week this week so I made one for mum next year! I had already made one so thinking ahead towards 2013!
This card has been made following the weekly sketch from Mojo Mondays and for the mothers day challenges over at Party Time Tuesday, Kaboodle Doodles, Through the Craftroom Door and Paper Sundaes.

The blooms are from Kaisercraft mini paper blooms and the leaves have been stamped, coloured and fussy cut using AnnaBelle Stamps 'ballerina rose' stamps.  Here is a close up of the blooms ...


I find blooms like this quite chunky and really make the card a bit lumpy so what I do is inset them by securing the patterned paper to the card with mounting tape, cutting out a frame from the patterned paper and attaching the blooms to the card base so the surrounding mounted patterned paper actually protects the blooms a bit ... probably best to give this card to mum rather than post it!
materials - white cardstock; Kaisercraft 'silly season' papers; AnnaBelle Stamps 'ballerina rose' stamps; Staz On timber brown ink, Versa Color lime and bamboo inks; Spellbinders standard circles large and labels 18 nestabilities; Kaisercraft cranberry and aubergine mini paper blooms; Crayola colouring pencils; organza trim; Carolee Creations tiny black alphabet sticker; Ranger white opal liquid pearls; mounting tape; silicone sealant.
Thanks for looking.

Just for You

Just a quick card this morning following the sketch from Card Patterns # 164.  It is a nice simple sketch with endless possibilities ...

and a close up ....
 
To make this card I mixed and matched my stamps - took the leaves from one set and the title from another and combined them with the bird stamp!
materials - White cardstock, AC robins egg and cranberry cardstock; Basic Grey 'hello luscious' papers; Grant Archival Grace Taylor 'bird blossum', AnnaBelle Stamps 'ballerina rose', Inky Antics 'millie mouse' stamps; Spellbinders standard circles large nesties; Kaiser cranberry mini paper blooms; mounting tape; silicone sealant; Staz On timber brown ink, Versa Color celadon ink; Crayola pencils; Ranger white opal liquid pearls.
thanks for looking.

Pucker up

Okay here is another card and I have followed the sketch from Card Patterns and again I have used Paper Smooches 'fruitastic' stamps for their June Guest DT application.

I made the lemon into a tag and have paper pieced the lips and applied glossy accents so it looks like it is wearing lipstick!  I also attached pearls and used a marker to create eyes! ...
 
materials - AC butter cardstock; Basic Grey 'hello luscious' papers; Staz On timber brown ink; MFT mini banner day die; 1/8" eyelet; 10mm split ring; 4mm white pearls; Ranger 'buttercup' liquid pearls; red satin trim.
Thanks for looking.

totally sweet

Hi all, 2 cards for today and for this card I followed the sketch from Card Positioning Systems and also for the Kaboodle Doodles challenge of adding Dimension.

I have raised the bowl with mounting tape (I have decided one cannot go far without ones mounting tape!) so the strawberries appear to be sitting in the bowl ...
 
You will notice that I have been posting alot of cards with Paper Smooches stamps well I am submitting it for their guest DT for June and since I only have one set (fruitastic) I am using that set to death!!!  I have developed a liking for this manufacturer of stamps as they are cute and quirky!
materials - AC Jade cardstock, white cardstock; Teresa Collins 'spring fling' papers; Paper Smooches 'fruitastic' stamps; Staz On jet black ink, Versa Color magenta ink; Spellbinders circle nesties; MFT wonky scalloped border die; Ranger 'white opal' liquid pearls.
Thanks for looking.

with deepest sympathy

Hello there - I am still in NZ with the family and will stay here until next weekend.  Thanks for all the well wishes for my Dad.  He is recovering wonderfully and despite having a heart attack he is a relatively fit man and is already out and about doing long walks ... although the fact that he cannot cycle on his bike physically (only on a stationary bike) or kayak is driving him mad ... another 2 1/2 months until he can do those ... so just walking for now!
Yesterday I managed to sit down and have a play with my limited cardmaking supplies.  I made a sympathy card for my sister who had sorted through her cards and found she had none as a back up so here is one I made following the sketch from Mojo Mondays - circle or square.  I have incorporated the May Spots from The Stamp Spot which is bling, some pink and flowers,  2 or more ribbons for Party Time Tuesdays, ribbons and pearls for  Paper Sundaes and Texture for the new monthly challenges over at AnnaBelle Stamps - Stamp Embellish and Create - this is a great little community of like minded stampers so head on over and join! For this texture challenge I tried something new (well for me it is!) I stuck a piece of pink organza on white cardstock and then embossed it so it looked like the ribbn was embossed ... it sort of worked so I tried it again on a 2nd piece of ribbon - this time a satin trim and again attached it to cardboard and then embossed it and I found it came out better ... check out the close up photo.
The background paper is actually AnnaBelle Stamps 'ballerina rose'  that I randomly stamped on 2 strips of white cardstock and then coloured  in with coloured pencils.

a close up of the embossed ribbon!
 
 


materials - Core 'dinations orchid sunrise, white cardstock; AnnaBelle Stamps 'ballerina rose' stamps; Pink organza and satin trim; Staz On timber brown ink, Versa Color orchid ink; Spellbinders labels 18 nestabilities; Cuttlebug swiss dot embossing folder; QuicKutz polka dot embossing folder; 2mm white pearls; Crayola Colouring pencils.
Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.