birthday wishes '18'

ode to be '18' again ... not!  Hind sight is a wonderful thing and I look back and although I had less grey hair and wrinkles at 18 and was thinner - I prefer life now than back then!

So my sister in law skypes me last night saying a friend wants an 18 birthday card for her daughter who loves bling ... now I am due to go to NZ for a week tonight (to meet me brand new nephew!) and have very little time to put something together but I did manage to set aside  few hours this morning to attempt to make something so I am hoping she likes it ... not sure if I do!

I have followed the sketch from Feeling Sketchy, used ribbon and bows for Crafty Catz challenge and included bling for Cute Card Thursday.

materials - White cardstock, C'C Amaryllis cardstock; Teresa Collings 'spring fling' papers; Versa Color orchid, mint and turquoise inks; AnnaBelle Stamps 'party animals 1' stamps; Fiskars round the bend punch; Provocraft paisley embossing folder; Spellbinders labels 18 nesties; Mpress butterflies die; MFT little open scalloped edge and mini rolled roses.

Thanks for looking.

with deepest sympathy

It is a beautiful spring day here in Melbourne and I am loving the fact that the weather is warm and dry! 

I came across a packet of bird wood flourishes this morning and decided that I would use one of the birds for a sympathy card.  They are great to use - all I did was ink them up with various coloured inks, a little shading here and there and viola! ...

here is a close up of the bird ...

 
I have followed the sketch from Sketch Saturday, used ribbons and bows for Crafty Catz and made it a sympathy card for The Pink Elephant.
materials - Kaisercraft watermelon cardstock, white cardstoc; Echo Park 'for the record' papers; AnnaBelle Stamps 'ballerina rose' stamps; Staz On jet black, Versa Color vanilla, topaz, paprika and old rose inks; Black grosgrain; Kaisercraft pearls, bird wood flourish; Fiskars lacy edge punch; Spellbinders labels 4 nesties; 1/8" eyelet; 7mm split ring; Ranger white opal liquid pearls.
Thanks for looking.

hello friend

This weeks challenge over at AnnaBelle Stamps is spots, dots and anything round! now I love dotted paper (if I could find wallpaper with polka dots I would put it in my craft room ... very psychodellic LOL!)

So using 'tomorrows dreams' stamps set, alot of fussy cutting and paper piecing I made this card ...

normally the little girl would be holding a kite but I substituted it for a flag for the challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays - banners and flags.
materials - AC pacific, black and white cardstock; Jillibean Soup papers (various); AnnaBelle Stamps 'tomorrows dream' and 'dotted flower' stamps; Staz On jet black, Versa Color sky blue, bamboo, lime inks; Crayola pencils; Spellbinders standard circles large, petite scalloped circles large nesties, MFT mini wavy banner dies; Ranger buttercup liquid pearls; Kaisercraft pearls.
Thanks for looking.

Happy birthday ...

Neils cousin has a birthday coming up and she likes owls so I thought I would make her a card from the both of us ...

and a close up ...

 
I have used a variety of stamps to make this card (love to mix and match my sets!)
I have followed the sketch from Feeling Sketchy

and have included bling for Cute Card Thursday and gems and twine for Crafty Creations.
materials - Moss card, Kaisercraft coconut card, AC spinach card; Jillibean Soup 'apple cheddar soup' papers; Paper Smooches 'chubby chums', Lawn Fawn 'critters down under', AnnaBelle Stamps 'party animals 1' stamps; Staz On timber brown, Versa Color bamboo inks; Crayola pencils; Kaisercraft rhinestones, Twinery twine.
Thanks for looking.

happy 60th birthday

I was asked to make a 60th birthday card for a male who likes the colour grey ... first I thought crikey a male and then I thought crikey 60 (so cartoon animals are a no go!) but I had just got the MME Miss Caroline 'dilly dally' papers and looked amoungst those and saw there was alot of greys and used that as inspiration for my card ... half way through it I remembered I had some sprightly spocket dies and thought that would make a great embellishment for a male card ...

from this side view you can see that I made it as a step card ...

 
male cards can be difficult at times especially if you don't know the person so I always try to make a card that has some sort of  mechanical element to it ... like a step card.  The frame around the title is made from cutting strips of woodgrain paper, trimming them to varying lengths and making a frame for a more interesting effect.
I am entering this for the chipboard challenge over at Southern Girls - the wood frame is mounted on chipboard and the '60' is chipboard.
materials - grey linen cardstock; MME Miss Caroline 'dilly dally' papers; AnnaBelle Stamps 'dotted flowers' stamps (title); Versa Color black, vanilla and chateau grey inks; AC thickers-black hatbox alphabet; Spellbinders Standard circles large and sprightly sprockets dies; Creative Impressions screw brads.
Thanks for looking.

Hello swing card

I have seen these swing cards around and there was a great tutorial over at Stamp, Embellish, Create and I decided that it was easier than what I had first anticipated and so I decided to make one for my DT post over at The Stamp Spot blog ...

this is a little out of character for me using this cute little tulip birgitta image from CC Designs - you can purchase this stamp from The Stamp Spot - Michelle has a great range of CC Design stamps over there.  In fact I was so inspired by this little girl image that I ended up buying some more 'girl' stamps - I have even bought a 'some odd girl' stamp which is REALLY unlike me but I thought that I need to try other images apart from cartoon and animal style cards!

I ended up doing a photo tutorial which you can find HERE.

Thanks for looking.

Thanks a bunch

It is a lovely warm spring day here in Melbourne - we have had 3 days like this in a row and each morning we have managed to get out on the bikes ... woo hoo bring on summer!

So my afternoons are spent crafting and I made this thankyou card ...

I love these papers from Echo Park 'so happy together' ... here is a close up of the flowers from AnnaBelle Stamps 'dotted flowers' ...

 
I am entering this card in AnnaBelle Stamps 'stamp, embellish, create' community monthly challenge 'flower frenzy', The Sketchy Challenges sketch, The Pink Elephant - create your own embellishments - I made my flowers and even the leaves!, Secret Crafter - circle card and Kaboodle Doodles - thankyou card.
 
materials used - White card; Echo Park 'so happy together' papers; AnnaBelle Stamps 'dotted flowers'; Versa Color turquoise, camelia, olive inks; MFT mini rolled roses; SPB standard circles large; Ranger white opal liquid pearls; Kaisercraft rhinestones.
Thanks for looking.

hello friend

Hi all here is a quick  card I made following the photo inspiration challenge over at Jay Gees Nook and also using the sketch from Sketch Saturday ...

inspired by the apricot and gray colours and also the chevrons I made this friendship card ...

 
materials - AC white card, C'D flame, gray cardstock; Lawn Fawn 'bright side collection' papers; Avocado Arts 'hello firend!' stamps; Versa Color old rose, chateau gray; Crayola pencils; gray velvet trim; gray brads; 7mm split ring; 1/8" orange eyelet; Cuttlebug circle dies.
Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday to You

Here is a quick card that I made following the 'something in or at the ocean' challenge from CAS-ual Fridays and AnnaBelle Stamps - shades of blue and white ...

using the little sail boat stamp from 'boys party' ...

I got out the good ole scallop scissors and used the inverse scallops to make my waves out of various blue papers. 

materials - AC pacific, sapphire, robins egg cardstock, white card; Jillibean Soup various blue papers; AnnaBelle Stamps 'boys party' stamps; Staz On jet black ink, Brilliance sky blue ink; Carl scallop scissors.

Thanks for looking.

Feel better soon - butterfly

okay here is yet another get well card! This time I followed this sketch from Feeling Sketchy and I also dug out a set of stamps that I haven't used for a while from Penny Black 'to you' and I used the gorgeous butterfly and flower from this set for the Scrapbook Boutique 'add a butterfly' challenge ...

here is my card ... I think in hindsight I should have distressed the edges of the paper ... but it was too late as I had stuck down all the paper ... so I have kept to my usual 'clean lines' :)

here is a close up ...

 

the orange lacy strip running down is a border punch which I trimmed down my card to a suitable width and then punched one long edge and then the other to make it lacey!

materials used - white cardstock; DCWV 'spring fling' cardstock and matstock papers; Penny Black 'to you' stamps, AnnaBelle Stamps 'dotted flowers' stamps (title); Staz On jet black, Versa Color vanilla inks; Crayola pencils; Cream satin trim; Carl corner punch; Fiskars lacy border punch; Sizzix large oval die; Ranger white opal liquid pearls; Kaisercraft pearls.

Thanks for looking.

Feel better soon - spots & stripes

I am on a run of 'get well' cards - I realised there was none in my card stash, so following the spots and stripes challenge from Papertake Weekly challenges, garden delights from Party Time Tuesday and one layer card for Top Tip Tuesday I made this card ...

I love this birdhouse stamp image I have but for the life of me I have no idea who is the manufacturer is ... the stamp was bought at a craft fair around 10 years ago so it is one of my first ones, it was unmounted etched rubber and I got it for a very cheap price ... that I remember :)

materials used - white cardstock; unknown birdhouse stamp; Stampendous 'millie mousie' stamps (title); Staz On jet black, Versa Color bamboo inks; Crayola pencils

thanks for looking.

get well soon

The challenge over at AnnaBelle Stamps blog this week is a great one this week -

so inspired by this, the sketch from Retro Sketches

and the 'add a butterfly' challenge from Scrapbook Boutique

I came up with this card ...

here is a close up of the butterfly (which is an Mpress butterfly die)

 
materials used - Bazzill kraft cardstock, C'D aged wine cardstock; AnnaBelle Stamps 'ballerina rose', Darkroom Door 'doilies' (title) stamps set; Staz On timber brown ink; Crayola pencils; Mpress butterflies die; Kaisercraft pearls.
Thanks for looking.

Hang in there

I made a card for my niece this morning as she is going through bit of a rough patch at the moment so I thought a simple encouraging handmade card from one of her Aunties would cheer her up!

I followed the designer draft challenge over at Paper Smooches SPARKS

I am also submitting it to Through The Craftroom Door who has a white with 2 colours challenge this fortnight and I chose brown and green and also for Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - anything goes.

materials used - White cardstock, C'D chocolate mocha and AC leaft cardstock; Paper Smooches 'alphadot' stamps set and Paper Smooches 'hi' digital stamp; Brilliance coffee bean, Versa Color bamboo inks; MFT branches with leaves die; Crayola pencils.

Thanks for looking.



Cupcake Crafts 4th Birthday Celebrations!

Hi and welcome to Cupcake Crafts 4th Birthday Celebrations.  My name is Janet O'Brien and I live in Melbourne, Australia.  I was so chuffed when Faye asked me to be one of the guest designers for their birthday celebrations ... I just couldn't refuse!  I enjoy the challenges that Cupcake Crafts offer up each week and the DT is simply inspiring.
So to celebrate this weeks celebrations you are to make a card/project inspired by this photo ...


I was drawn to the fab colours of this photo - pink, brown and white and since I live here in Australia I couldn't resist using my Lawn Fawn 'critters down under' and Paper Smooches 'green acres' stamp sets and incorporating 2 of my favourite techniques - paper piecing and colouring with pencils :)

... a bit of an Aussie feel to it aye!
I thought I would go that little bit extra with the Aussie theme and you will notice the little girl has beads hanging from her hat ... if you don't already know but when a typical Aussie farmer is depicted in movies etc, he/she usually has corks hanging from their hat edges and that is to keep the flies at bay - I couldn't find tiny corks for a card so I used beads :) here is a close up of her hat ...
 
LOL she is just so adorable.
So pop on over to Cupcake Crafts challenge blog to enter in this weeks birthday celebrations and be in to win some fantastic prizes.
materials used - C'D ages wine card, AC chestnut and white cardstock; Cosmo Cricket 'tea for 2', Jillibean Soup 'apply cheddar soup' and MME Stella & Rose 'gertie' papers; Lawn Fawn 'critters down under', Paper Smooches 'green acres' stamps; Staz On jet black, Color box frost white inks; Crayola pencils; MFT chat bubbles dies; Carl scalloped scissors; Ranger opal white liquid pears; pink & brown striped grosgrain; beads; white Signo gel pen; Francheville black journalling pen.
Thanks for looking and I can't wait to see what you come up with!

hey tableter

Hi all, I forgot that it is Neils cousins birthday today and we are going over for dinner so I whipped up this quick CAS card.  You are probably wondering about the first part of the title 'hey tableter' - it is tablet and er added to it.  There is a story behind it, but here is the card first ...

... so the story is a bit like this - between 2 of Neils cousins and us we play scrabble (the word game) and we are very competitive :).  When we first started playing on the internet we played via 'pixie pit' and stupidly allowed all dictionaries to be used (so basically any combination of letters was somehow a word!) well we are near the end of the game and it is very close and it is coming to who can get rid of their tiles first that will win ... well we open the game to find that Neils cousin has won with a 7 letter word (he used a letter already on the board) and that word was 'tableter' now we burst out with 'what the f*#k is tableter that is just grammatically incorrect and once checking in our official Scrabble dictionary and any dictionary we could get hold off in the house there was NO listing of the word 'tableter' BUT because the pixie pit dictionaries were all open 1 of the dictionaries allowed it ... we were gutted and annoyed and whenever we get together we rib him as to what just is a tableter (apparently it is 'one who dispenses tablets :)
LOL I just can't let it go ... and I never will!
Anyway I made this for the challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays - squared shaped card.
materials - AC robins egg, white cardstock; Paper Smooches 'green acres' and 'alpahdot' stamps; Staz On jet black ink; Crayola pencils; Kaisercraft rhinestones.
Thanks for looking and enjoy your weekend.

Happy Birthday (40th)

Hi there, my sister in law asked me if I could make a male 40th birthday card for a friend of hers whose husband is turning 40 ... I said sure ... and then she begins to rattle off what her friend wanted in the card and I am frantically writing away her instructions which were the following points:
* a pink male 40th card
* family and home orientated
* include a dog with a pink bow
* they have 3 young girls and the dog is also a female ....
basically the poor guy is surrounded by females in the household who all LOVE pink - I think this guy goes to work with his head hanging down!
So here it is - I had to incorporate other colours but the family and house are all pink (and even the dog has a pink bow!)

 I made my first step card and had the family up front on the first step, the house and letterbox (with the number '40' on it!) on the 2nd step, an apple tree on the 3rd step and the back/4th step has another tree, sky and clouds.
 
It took me quite a while to make this card and I enjoyed every minute off it - alot of fussy cutting! here is a close up of the family ...
 
So I am entering this card into the challenge over at Crafty Catz - pink! and Paper Take Weekly - anything goes.
materials - Bazzill kraft, piglet card; white card; C'D dutchess; AC coffee; acetate; Cosmo Cricket 'tea for 2', Jillibean Soup 'apple cheddar soup', Teresa Collins 'spring fling' papers; Stampin Up 'all in the family' stamps, Paper Smooches 'spring grove' stamps; AnnaBelle Stamps 'party animals 1' stamps; Staz On jet black ink; Crayola pencils; MFT woodgrain fence die; Pizzazz Aplenty white pearls; pink paper cord.
Thanks for looking.

With deepest sympathy

It is rather freezing here in Melbourne today - we managed to get out and walk the dog early this morning but that is it ... so I have happily ascounded myself to the craft room to make this sympathy card ...

It is a nice and easy card to make - just stamped flowers to my hearts content!
I made this card for the say it with ... challenge over at AnnaBelle Stamps blog and also for their Flower frenzy monthly challenge at Stamp, Embellish, Create ... (a place for like minded crafters to discuss, show and tell!) ...

I also incorporated ribbon for Top Tip Tuesday and The Pink Elephant blogs.
materials - AC forest, Bazzill fawn and wheat cardstock; AnnaBelle Stamps stemmed flowers and ballerina rose (title) stamps; Stampin Up purely pomegranate, Versa Color olive and sand biege inks; Cream grosgrain; Kaisercraft pearls.
Thanks for looking.

Just a note for you ...

Hello there, it is my turn to post on The Stamp Spot blog and I decided to go clean and simple for Cute Card Thursdays, incorporated ribbon for The Pink Elephant and followed this weeks sketch from Feeling Sketchy (I rotated it 180 degrees).

Here is my card ...
 
I have followed the August Spots of orange, leaves and polka dots, now I couldn't go past a posting without some sort of tutorial :) and it is on how to make your own leaves using scalloped and/or circle dies (like the ones on the card above).  Click HERE and this will take you to the page that has the little tutorial.
To enter into The Stamp Spots 'August Spots' just click HERE and this will take you to the page with all the details and where you can upload your card ... go on give it a go.
materials - Bazzil kraft, apricot and aloe vera cardstock; Pink Paislee 'prairie hill' papers; AnnaBelle Stamps 'squared posies' stamps; Staz On jet black ink, Versa Color olive ink; MFT mini rolled roses, notebook edge dies; Spellbinders standard circles large and petite scalloped circles large nesties; Pistachio satin trim; Kaisercraft lush pearls; Quickutz polka dot embossing folder.
Thanks for looking.

Y'all travel safely

Hey y'all :) I love that "y'all" it is just so country and since I am a city slicker gal I suppose I just like the sound of it!
Anyway this card is for the trend watch challenge over at Paper Smooches SPARKS - here is the photo inspiration ...

I suppose the 'spark' is pretty obvious - travel!  I love the 'green acres' set and so I used the little person from that (and made it into a girl) along with the very versatile 'alphadot' set to create this travel card ...
 
I didn't have any world, map or plane stamps so I thought a bit outside the square and made a frame out of city names.  The blue dot border is from the alphadot set.
I have used the sketch from Card Positioning Systems and made it a CAS style card for Cute Card Thursdays.
materials - Bazzill kraft cardstock, C'D flame card, AC blue jay card; Prima 'paisley road' papers; Paper Smooches 'green acres' and 'alphadot' stamps; Staz On jet black, Versa Color paprika, Versa Magic night sky inks; Crayola pencils; Kaisercraft blue rhinestones.
Thanks for looking.

happy birthday ice creams

Hi all, it was a beautiful day here in Melbourne - a nice winters day so it was refreshing to make this bright summery card ...

I have made it following the sketch from Retro Sketches #23
 
The theme is inspired by Crafty Creations challenge - cool summer treats, the main colour Pink is inspired from the challenge over at Crafty Catz and I have made it a CAS style card for Cute Card Thursday.
materials - White cardstock; Prima 'paisley road' papers; Lawn Fawn 'admit one' and 'critters down under' stamps; Versa Color black; MFT notebook edge die.
Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday

Hi all, this afternoon I decided to use a colour that I normally don't use - purple!  One of the colours in Lawn Fawns the bright side collection is purple and I really liked the shade they have used so I thought I would give it a go on my card this afternoon.

This card incorporates quite a few challenges - the sketch is from Retro Sketches, the birthday sentiment is for Kaboodle Doodles - birthday or special day, the image is for the 'great outdoors' theme over at Cupcake Crafts, I have incorporated a ribbon for Top Tip Tuesday and I am also entering it for 'anything goes' for Party Time Tuesdays ...

the little scene was made using Paper Smooches 'spring groves' stamp set and coloured with colouring pencils.

 
materials - White card, Kaisercraft lilac, watermelon cardstock; Lawn Fawn 'the bright side collection' papers; Paper Smooches 'spring groves' stamps, AnnaBelle Stamps 'party animals 1' (title) stamps; Staz On jet black ink, Versa Color violet ink; Crayola pencils; Celebration purple gingham trim; MFT wonky border die, Fiskars round the bend punch, Cuttlebut circle dies.
Thanks for looking.