wishing you sunshine

I haven't been doing to much cardmaking lately ... I have been collecting, organising and packing -  next week we head of to NZ by plane and then bus to Tauranga and then a very loooooooooooooong journey on the supply ship to Pitcairn Island.  Around 12-14 days on this boat (one way and another 12-14 days return!).  I am presuming that I will get seasick (feeling queasy in past experiences on ferry rides in calm weather!) and I am expecting at some point to have very rough weather.  The ship is small around 50m x 10m and is by no means a cruise ship!  For those of you old enough will understand that I have been watching the Onedin line TV series in the hope to find my sealegs!!!
So this morning I decided that since I am ready that I could relax and create! So I made a card following the sketch from Annabelle Stamps ...

 and here is my card ....

 it is very much a 3D card especially in the grassy mounds ...

 and another view ...

I made my little mushrooms by punching a small circle and trimming it in half and making a little stalk out of brown paper.
materials used - Kaisercraft cheddar, Bazzill blue, smooth white, light blue cardstock; Simple Stories 'family ties' paper; Annabelle Stamps 'a beautiful day' and 'dotted flowers' stamps; Spellbinders classic ovals small; Carl circle punch; Prismacolor pencils; Staz On jet black ink.
Thanks for looking and see you all in another 2 months time!

hoppy birthday

I can't believe my little nephew will be 1 in August ... what saddens me is that nearly the entire family will be away on that day ... we will be in the middle of the Pacific ocean on the supply ship on our way to Pitcairn Island! so we are having his family party just before we embark.
I enjoy making cards for kids ... but I don't enjoy shopping for their birthday presents ... when I  browse at toys I always think 'nah that is too childish' got to get out of that line of thinking!
So here is his card ...

 here is a close up of all the Australian animals ...

I hope he likes it - I have made this card for the following challenges - Southern Girls 'no spoolin'; Creative Card Crew - great outdoors; Quirky Crafts - zoo animals (you find plenty of kangaroos, koalas and kookaburras in an Australian zoo!)
materials used - white card; Echo Park 'so happy together' papers; Lawn Fawn 'critters down under' Staz On jet black ink; Prismacolor pencils; red brad.
Thanks for looking.

new digs

hello there, woo hoo I am slowly getting back into the groove of cardmaking.  After neglecting the craft room over the past month due to organising myself and gear for our travels I am happy to be back in it ... but not for long!
This is a card I have made for my sister and her partner who are selling their home in Auckland and looking for another home in Whangarei ... sort of having a 'sea change'.

 I have followed the sketch from Feeling Sketchy, have chosen the colours from Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge - kraft, red, navy and white/cream, incorporated polka dots for CAS-ual Fridays and made a paper bow for Papertake Weekly Challenges.
In a recent edition of Australian Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft magazine (Vol.19 No.08) they have a set of cards with a template to create a paper bow.  I so wanted to give this a go and below is a close up of the bow ...

it is super cute although not ideal to use on a card that is going to be sent in the post as the postal machines would flatten it but definitely for a card that is going to be hand delivered!
materials used - Kraft, smooth white card, Core 'dinations dutchess card, Kaisercraft navy cardstock; Teresa Collins 'spring fling' and Simple Stories 'family ties' papers; Paper Smooches 'new digs' stamps; Staz On jet black ink; Prismacolor pencils; button; QuicKutz polka dot embossing folder; natural cord.
Thanks for looking.

Have a cracker of a xmas

Today I made a christmas card!  Fortunately I don't have many to make each year and for this year I am a bit pushed for time with all the travelling coming up that I won't really have time at Christmas to make many so being the super organised person I am I'm using my DT posts and Christmas in July Challenge over at The Stamp Spot to make a start on my cards!
Here is my card:

I have made my crackers and I must admit that I chuckled when creating the title as I said it out loud and it is sounded really 'ocker' like!

I have followed the sketch from The Sketchy Challenges, have incorporated hexagons and circles for Top Tip Tuesday, added a little dry embossing for Kaboodle Doodles and have no ribbon, cotton or twine for the 'no spoolin' challenge over at Southern Girls.

materials used - Bazzill blossom, vanilla and patina cardstock; Crate Paper 'sleigh ride' papers; Paper Smooches 'alphadot' stamps; Versa color black ink; Kaisercraft aquamarine rhinestones; Adorn it Carolee Creations alphabet stickers; Craft Concepts hexagon embossing folder; circle cutters; washi tape.

Thanks for looking.

gonna puke!

You are looking at the title of this blog posting and thinking what kinda card have I made!  I know it is a shocker but I have actually made this card to send to my parents (and I am thinking of making another 2 to send to 2 of my sisters!).
In 5 weeks time my parents, 2 of my sisters and Neil are all departing for a place called Pitcairn Island - it is a tiny remote island in the middle of the South Pacific.  We are taking a supply ship from Tauranga (NZ) to the island and it is going to take anywhere from 10 - 14 days on a boat that is only 10m wide and 50m long!
We have been planning this for a while and one of our concerns is sea sickness.  We know that our mother gets sea sick (as she did on a big cruise ship) we think one of my sisters will get sick and we are almost sure that I will suffer as there has been a few ferry crossings where I have turned green!  So we are stocking up on sea sickness tablets ... hence this card :)

LOL isn't is funny ... I know my family will find this hilarious as we ALL have a warped sense of humour!
I have made this for the SPARKS Paper Smooches ocean challenge, followed Retro Sketches #70 and also Papertake Weekly - anything goes.
materials used - Kaisercraft buttercup, tomato cardstock, Canson smooth white cardstock; Echo Park 'a perfect summer' papers; Paper Smooches 'he said she said', 'alphadot' stamps; Versa Color black ink; Spellbinders classic ovals small dies.

(heart) U

My anniversary with Neil is coming up at the end of next week and I thought about the challenge with CAS-ual Fridays this week - arrows and I had the idea that arrows with a bike would be a good card for Neil since we both love riding ...

I don't think I could get anymore cleaner and simpler than this ... it was scary as it took me less than 10 mins to do!
materials used - smooth white and red cardstock; Paper Smooches 'he said she said' and 'alphadot' stamps; Versa Color black and camelia ink; Carl primitive heart punch.
Thanks for looking.