Did I say that out loud?

The Paper Players #80

2012-02-02T17:50:00.003+08:00

While I'm on a Valentine's theme I figured I would continue it with my card for this week's Paper Players Sketch challenge.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my very CAS card. This is my card

Tiddly Inks Valentine Challenge Take Two .. and a Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge

2012-02-02T16:56:00.005+08:00

This time I have teamed another of the gorgeous Wren images from Tiddly Inks with a great sketch from Karen over at the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge Blog.

Supplies:

Images: Digi Wren from Tiddly Inks, greeting from Papertrey Ink.

DSP: Kaiser, cardstock from SU!

Other: Flower by Kaiser, banner die by PTI, copic markers

Tiddly Inks Valentines Challenge & a freshly made sketch

2012-02-02T16:45:00.005+08:00

I teamed up this gorgeous new Wren image from Tiddly Inks, with last week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. Unfortunately I was too late to submit it for that one though.

I had such fun colouring this sweet girl with my copic markers.

Supplies:

Images: Digi image from Tiddly Inks, greeting from Papertrey Ink.

Cardstock by Stampin' Up!, DSP by Kaiser

Ink: Riding Hood Red

Other: Black satin ribbon, scallop border punch, banner die by PTI, black pearl embellishments by Kaiser, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Copic markers

And this is the sketch I used which I flipped on it's side.

JAI102 - Just Add .... Kathy Tanner

2012-01-27T10:20:00.005+08:00

This week over at Just Add Ink, we have a CASE challenge for you and this week we get to CASE the very talented JAI design team member Kathy Tanner.

Here is the card that I made:

And this is the card that I chose to case from Kathy's blog.

I hope to be back soon with some photos from my recent trip to Bali. I arrived home on Sunday night and my brother and his son arrived on Monday morning from Sydney and are staying with us until Saturday. It has been great to spend time with them, but I must admit I am looking forward to getting my craft room back and getting inky again!

But first I just need to get the girls all ready for the new school year, there are still books and stationery still to pick up and new shoes to buy. So things will be pretty full on until mid week when school starts again and a regular routine can resume.

Happy stamping!

JAI101 - Sketch Challenge

2012-01-20T00:02:00.003+08:00

Greetings from Bali, Indonesia!

Hopefully as you read this I am laying somewhere on a beach in Bali with a cocktail in hand! I say hopefully because I am never 100% sure whether Blogger will post my updates when I have scheduled them for.

This week over at Just Add Ink, we have a fun sketch challenge for you. If you would like to play along, just check out the sketch below and once you have made your card just be sure to go and link it up over on our challenge blog.

And here is my card. I have kept it very CAS this week ... again! ;)

Supplies:

Stamped images: Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Stampin' Up!

Other: nestabilities, sewing, copic markers

JAI100 - Just Add Crowns Blog Hop

2012-01-13T00:23:00.004+08:00

Hello fellow blog readers!

I hope this blog update finds you well and ready to be inspired, because this week is no ordinary challenge over at Just Add Ink.

Because it is our 100TH challenge, we have created a blog hop for you. And by visiting each of the stops on the hop and leaving a comment you will be eligible to win some blog candy. And who doesn't love blog candy right?

The theme for this week's special challenge is to Just Add Crowns, after all you do receive a letter from none other than the Queen on your 100th birthday right?

I have created a card today using this cute little princess image from Mo Manning, and coloured her with Copic Markers.

The next stop on the blog hop is Kathy Tanner, so please pop on over to see what gorgeous creation Kathy has lined up for you! And if you started here, you can go back to the beginning just by stopping over at the Just Add Ink blog.

Have a great week! I am off to pack because I fly out to Bali on Sunday for some much anticipated R&R.

See you when I return!

Oh and before I go, I just wanted to let you know that Just Add Ink are looking for three new designers to join our team! For more information, just pop over to the Challenge Blog and find out what you need to do to apply.

A quick card share

2012-01-11T19:13:00.004+08:00

Firstly blogging friends, I must apologise for being so quiet since the new year. Things have been really busy around here (I thought it was meant to slow down after Christmas?) and I am getting ready to go away on the weekend, as well as preparing for visitors who arrive as soon as I get back. So the craft room has been packed up to make way for a bed, and the crafting is now on hold for at least a couple of weeks.

In the meantime I did finish this card last night and just wanted to share. It's pretty simple and the digital image is from La La Land Crafts and colored with Copics. I bought this one because it reminded me of my cute guitar playing daughter.

Just Add Ink Scrapbooking Challenge #1

2012-01-01T21:36:00.004+08:00

Happy New Year! I can't believe that another year has passed us by and here we are at the start of 2012. A fresh start with so many possibilities ahead. I can't wait to see what this year will bring.

There are some exciting changes happening over at Just Add Ink this year and the first one is that as of today we will

be having a monthly scrapbooking challenge on the first Sunday of each Month.

While this is an optional challenge for most of the Design Team, I am looking forward to participating as an opportunity to get back into my scrapbooking which has taken a back seat to stamping for the

last couple of years.

Since it is our first scrapbooking challenge, the theme is 'Firsts' or 'One'. So just make your layout in whatever format you choose (Layout=scrapbook page) in any size but it must be a LO to go into an album .ie not an OTP/mini album using this month's theme.

Here is my first layout for the year, I have scrapped my daughters First Communion.

I can't wait to see what you all come up with for this challenge!

JAI99 - Just Add Fancy Packaging

2011-12-22T21:25:00.005+08:00

The timing couldn't be more perfect for this week's Just Add Ink challenge, with all of that Christmas wrapping we have to do in the next few days! And because it is such a busy time for everyone, we are extending this week's challenge and leaving it open for TWO weeks. Yay :)

For my project this week, I made gift card holders for all of my nieces and nephews. And the new gift card die from Papertrey Ink made putting these together so easy!

I also wanted to share with you some other fancy packaging projects that I made this week. For the small people in my life I made some Magic Reindeer Food and placed it in little cups and cellophane bags before embellishing with some little tags adorned with reindeer made from various punches.

Supplies - Gift Card Holders

Stamps: All Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Kraft, Whisper White, various DSP

Other: Bells, glitter, PTI alphabet dies

Supplies: Magic Reindeer Food

Cardstock: Kraft, early espresso, red glitter cardstock

Other: Owl punch, leaf punch (both SU!), tag punch by Papertrey Ink, cellophane bags/paper, tinsel, silver twine, small xmas coffee mugs from the discount store, rolled and oats and glitter (for the magic reindeer food), googly eyes.

And in case you would like to make some reindeer food, here is the little poem.

Sprinkle on the lawn at night,

the moon will make it sparkle bright.

As Santa's reindeer fly and roam,

this will guide them to your home.

And before I sign off my last challenge for 2011

I would like to take this opportunity to

wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

JAI98 - Just Add Sparkle

2011-12-15T21:30:00.004+08:00

Well if there was ever a time for sparkle, it is Christmas time right? This week over at Just Add Ink, we are challenging you to add a little sparkle to your project. Which can be whatever you want it to be!

If you haven't' already seen the projects over on the JAI Challenge Blog, be sure to check them out because the DT have some gorgeous things to share with you this week.

For my project I created a Christmas card and some gift wrapping for a special friend :) For my 'Merry' letters and the tag on the package, I used some very sparkly white glitter cards stock which is a bit hard to capture in a photo.

Freshly Made Sketches #14

2011-12-10T09:05:00.003+08:00

Just a quick share this morning before I have to start getting my daughter ready for her dance concert today. This weekend is shaping up to be pretty crazy, just like the last few! But now school has finished and soon things will start to become a little more relaxed as we settle into the holidays.

I downloaded the Freshly Made Sketches challenge for this week and made this card using an adorable snow penguin digi image from Dilly Beans.

Here is the sketch I used:

And here is my card.

JAI#97 Inspiration Challenge

2011-12-08T21:43:00.004+08:00

It feels like ages since we've had an inspiration photo over at Just Add Ink! And I must say, I love this one! The colours are gorgeous and the little bags are just adorable.

I got the idea for my card from one that I saw on a PTI blog hop made by Debbie Olson. I love the idea of the front & centre die cut down to make a pocket card!

A simple Christmas card

2011-12-07T09:36:00.004+08:00

Just a quick share this morning, as I'm sure just like it is at your place, things around here have been pretty crazy! I guess they don't call it the silly season for nothing.

I saw this card idea on the PTI blog hop and just loved it, but now for the life of me can't find it to post the link! It came together so quickly and easily that I think I will make several more of these to send out this year.

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: black, white, kraft

Ink: Memento Black

Other: Copics, rhinestones, linen impressions folder, real red ribbon

SSSC #146 and Dilly Beans Snow Family Challenge

2011-12-04T22:15:00.007+08:00

First I must apologise for the bad lighting in this pic. I normally take my photos during the day but I know I won't get a chance for the next couple of days as I will be so busy so I thought I had better post this now while I could :)

Here is this week's sketch from Karen over at the Sweet Sunday Sketch blog.

And here is my card, I have flipped the sketch on it's side:

The *NEW* Dilly Beans Challenge Blog is also running a little challenge to use this image and they are even giving it away for free!! I already had this image in my digi stash so I missed out on the freebie, but you should definitely go and grab it while you can and play along. It is just too cute! And I don't know why, but even though we don't have white Christmases here in Australia I just adore snowmen and am getting quite a collection of them :)

Supplies:

Stamps: digi image by Dilly Beans

Cardstock: Basic grey, whisper white, bashful blue. DSP by SU!

Other: Punches by Martha Stewart, copics, glitter, stitching, ribbon

Freshly Made Sketches #13

2011-12-04T22:07:00.003+08:00

I had these three little gingerbread men from Papertrey Ink coloured up and sitting on my desk for the past couple of weeks and when I saw this week's sketch from the Freshly Made Sketches challenge blog I knew they would be perfect!

Here is this week's sketch.

And here is my card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertyrey Ink

Cardstock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip and Cherry Cobbler

Ink: Versamark, Memento black

Other: Copic markers, cherry cobbler seam binding and button, white emobossing powder, stitching, linen impressions plate by Papertrey Ink.

A little bedroom makeover

2011-12-04T13:04:00.006+08:00

Just in case I didn't have enough to do in between end of year dance concerts, school stuff, working (of the paid and unpaid variety), and Christmas parties, all while hubby is overseas, I thought I would repaint my daughter Madi's bedroom. We have been going to do it during the last 2 school holiday breaks and we never got to it for one reason or another so I thought we would just bite the bullet and get it done, since I was feeling a little better and almost recovered from being sick. And she was harassing me! lol

In the end it was only two days work and a tin of paint but the results are fantastic and she LOVES it, which is the main thing. She picked the colour herself and we moved the furniture around which gives her a lot more space in the middle of her room. It is quite a small room so we have to make the most of every bit of space!

I then spent the third day cleaning the rest of the house because everything seemed to be covered in a layer of sanding dust and mess. And Claudia, my other dd, has now chosen her paint colour and we are going to do her room ... YAY! (can you sense the sarcasm?).

Here are the BEFORE pics. I forgot to get them before we started so she had already started pulling the stuff out of her storage cubes and dumping it on the floor by this stage!

Once we had everything out I moved the bigger stuff into the middle of the room and started filling some holes on the wall which I then sanded back before painting.

And this is the AFTER photo. The colour is Dulux Seafoam (half strength) and is a beautiful aqua colour. It has made the room look so fresh! I also painted the window sill to match the door frames.

I also painted the frame on her notice board so it fitted in better with her new colour scheme.

Not bad for a couple of days work, and the total cost was just under $100. Gotta love that!

JAI96 - Just Add Tania Gould

2011-12-02T08:15:00.004+08:00

I know that sounds strange right? But don't worry it's not really anything weird, we just want you to CASE Tania as part of this week's Just Add Ink Challenge :)

The problem is, there are so many gorgeous cards to choose from! Just pop over to Tania's Blog and I'm sure you will not be short of inspiration.

This is the card that I chose.

And here is my recreation of it. I just don't do justice to that gorgeous vintage style that Tania does so well! I think I am just more of a clean lines kind of girl and I never feel like I get the balance right or the tearing looking random enough if that makes sense? LOL

I didn't want to change too much about Tania's card because I thought it was perfect as it was, so I just switched the orientation and the colours and added a brad.

Supplies:

Stamps: Elements of Style, French Foliage, Vintage Vogue

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler

Ink: Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler

Other: Antique brad, distress ink

Clean & Simple Sketch Challenge #168

2011-11-27T16:27:00.002+08:00

Here is the other card I made last night, for this sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping.

And this is my card. It was a really quick one to put together as I used the patterns on the DSP as the main focus on my card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Sentiment by PTI

Cardstock: Riding hood read, DSP by Craft Creations

Other: Nestabilities, riding hood red ribbon, stitching

Freshly Made Sketches #12

2011-11-27T14:48:00.004+08:00

I didn't think I was going to have time to play along with any challenges this week as I have been sick with a bad head cold but I did manage to do a couple of quick and easy cards late last night.

This one is for the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge. Don't look too closely at the colouring on the image, because I find red so hard to work with and very unforgiving so I have gone out of the lines a few times! LOL Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

Supplies:

Images: Digi image by Make it Crafty, sentiment by Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Kraft, riding hood red, basic black, white sparkly embossed DSP (not sure what brand it is).

Other: Cuttlebug stars embossing folder, silver glitter cardstock, nestabilities, copics white embossing powder

JAI95 - Bah Humbug!

2011-11-24T21:52:00.004+08:00

This week's challenge over at Just Add Ink is a Christmas challenge with a twist! This week we challenge you to make a Christmas project but with NO Christmas paper, and NO Christmas images although you CAN use a Christmas sentiment. It's great to look at some of the stamps you already have in your stash in a new light!

For my card this week, I used the flower from Stampin' Up's! Delight in Life stamp set because it reminded me of a poinsettia flower, along with the SU! big shot leaf die.

Supplies:

Stamps: Flower by SU!, sentiment by Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Crumb cake, whisper white, old olive

Ink: Black memento ink

Other: Scallop border punch and leaf die by SU!, 'Peace' die and linen impressions plate by Papertrey Ink, brad by SU!, copic markers

iPhone download #1

2011-11-22T20:14:00.004+08:00

I have always loved looking at Gretchen's weekly iPhone dumps and thought it was such a great idea that I would try it myself. I just have to remind myself to take more random pics on my phone as I go about my days!

And because I keep forgetting to take pics, this iPhone download is for the last couple of weeks :) And I still haven't figured out how to fit a title on the top of my image but I will get there.

Left to right:

1. A Coffee Club date with my best friend Kathleen who came up from Albany

2. The itinerary for my FIRST EVER overseas trip :)

3. I made some jelly cups for my girls

4. Claudia went in for day surgery to have 5 teeth removed

5. That's why they call it the Swan River, with the Perth city skyline in the background

6. My girls auditioned for Australia's Got Talent - so proud of them!

7. I am looking for a new dining suite and I have my eye on this one.

8. I spent 3 days last week on beautiful Rottnest Island for work

9. My bunny friends raiding the hay bag at the RSPCA when I let them out to clean their cage (the big one at the back is the mummy bunny)

Freshly Made Sketches #11

2011-11-19T20:29:00.004+08:00

Hello! Hope you are having a nice weekend! Mine has been pretty busy so far, but I am looking forward to some quiet time at home tomorrow.

I just popped in to show you a card I made for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches. I have turned the sketch on it's side to suit my image.

Here is this week's sketch:

And this is my card:

This is a close up just so that you can see the shimmer on my card. I spritzed some Ranger Perfect Pearls mist over the rose red cardstock.

Supplies:

Images: Digital Image of Copica by Saturated Canary, Sentiment by Papertrey Ink.

Cardstock: Rose Red and whisper white by SU!, DSP by Kaiser

Ink: Rose Red

Other: Punches by SU!, stitching, copic markers, gems.

JAI94 Sketch Challenge

2011-11-17T22:09:00.003+08:00

It's time for another challenge over at Just Add Ink, and this week it's a sketch challenge. I love that this sketch is a circle and it gives you so many options! So be sure to pop over to the Challenge Blog and see what the other DT members have created.

And if you would like to play along, here is the sketch.

For my card I decided to use the circle on a square card and went for a bright, fun colour scheme.

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Certainly Celery

Ink: Melon Mambo and Certainly Celery

Other: Dies by Papertrey Ink, Nestabilities, Martha Stewart Punch, Certainly Celery Ribbon

Sunny Challenges 016/11

2011-11-14T13:44:00.003+08:00

Here is another Christmas card using this weeks sketch from the Sunny Challenges blog. This was a nice quick and easy one to put together too. This is the sketch we had to work with.

And here is my card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Stylish Sentiments Holiday from Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Riding hood red and whisper white by SU! DSP was from my stash

Ink: Riding Hood Red by SU!

Other: Riding hood red ribbon, sleigh charm (from my stash).

Freshly Made Sketches #10

2011-11-14T13:35:00.003+08:00

I managed to find a couple of hours in my craft room last night to play along with some challenges. The first one I did was from Freshly Made Sketches and here is the sketch.

And here is my card.

I love that these sketches are so clean and simple in design so you have the option of adding to them or leaving them as they are. This would be a good card to mass produce for Christmas!

Supplies:

Stamps: In the meadow and Stylish Sentiments Holiday by Papertrey Ink.

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Basic Black and Whisper white by SU! DSP by Kaiser

Ink: Melon Mambo and Black

Other: Linen impressions plate by Papertrey Ink

JAI93 - Colour Challenge

2011-11-10T21:00:00.000+08:00

Asyou read this post, I am currently on beautiful Rottnest Island for a work conference. And I am hoping that this post appears okay, as it is my first time trying to schedule a blog post so fingers crossed!

This week over at Just Add Ink, we have a beautiful colour challenge for you. So be sure you pop over to the blog and check out what the girls have made because the projects this week are just gorgeous!

Mine is very clean and simple and once again I am making Christmas cards as I have a lot to get done between now and December :)

Here are the colours for this week, and we hope you will play along with us!

And here is my card.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Pool Party, Whisper White

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Melon Mambo, Pool Party, Certainly Celery, Basic Black

Other: Crystal gems, linen impressions plate by Papertrey Ink

A Perfect Princess

2011-11-09T15:50:00.005+08:00

I was so excited to receive an email from the girls over at Freshly Made Sketches to say that my card had been selected this week for their sketch challenge! And it was a Perfect Princess Award no less! It's been a while since anyone called me a Princess let alone a perfect one. LOL

Made my day, thank you so much :)

Proud mum post

2011-11-06T19:37:00.004+08:00

I just wanted to share a pic of my girls from today. They decided they wanted to try out for Australia's Got Talent so we headed off early to sign up for auditions. Luckily we got there an hour before registration started because there were already a couple of hundred people in the queue and by the time we got through and came out at 11.30 (much earlier than we had thought!) the queue was into the several hundreds!

We don't know if they got through to the next stage yet, we will have to wait for a phone call. But I am just so proud of them for having the courage to get up there in front of the judges and give it a go. I don't know if I could have done it at their age!

Thanks for indulging my proud mummy moment, and I will leave you with a photo.

Have a great week!

Plum birthday wishes

2011-11-06T19:25:00.004+08:00

Just a quick card share. We had a huge weekend with a lot of family commitments, but we managed to get home earlier than expected today so I did some stamping this afternoon.

Here is a very simple birthday card using an adorable digital image from Tickled Pink Stamps.

Supplies:

Stamps: Digital Image from Tickled Pink Stamps, sentiment from Papertrey Ink.

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Perfect Plum and matching DSP all by SU!

Other: White satin ribbon, PTI Mat Stack 2 die, Stitching, button, Copic markers

A little bit of Christmas

2011-11-05T20:41:00.004+08:00

I downloaded this cute little Christmas Image the other day from Tiddly Inks and couldn't wait to colour her up with my copics.

I haven't decided yet whether I will put a sentiment on the front or not, to me it looks 'naked' when I don't have one. LOL But it does have a Christmas verse inside so maybe that's enough. She also has quite a bit of sparkle on her fur trim, but I can never seem to catch that in my photo's.

Supplies:
Image: Tiddly Inks (digital)
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Whisper White (SU!), DSP by Papertrey Ink
Other: Copic markers, nestabilities, charm, rose red seam binding (SU!), glitter

A combination challenge

2011-11-04T09:23:00.004+08:00

I made this very clean & simple card yesterday using this Freshly Made Sketch #9 and Colour Throwdown Challenges.

I thought the sentiment would be funny given that the gnome is .... well, a little grumpy! lol

Supplies:
Stamps: Digital Image 'Gruffy Little Gnome' by Whimsy Stamps, Sentiment by Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White, Old Olive
Ink: Memento black ink
Other: Buttons by Stampin' Up!, Copic Markers

Just Add Ink #92 - Just add a tag or bookmark

2011-11-03T22:06:00.004+08:00

Once again another week has flown by me and I didn't get to spend half as much time in my craft space as I would have liked to *pout*

But I did get to make a little project for this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink. This week the challenge was to just add a tag or a bookmark and I have made a corner fold bookmark.

Be sure to stop by the JAI Blog and check out all of the gorgeous projects that the Design Team have created this week!

Supplies:

Stamps: Digital image by Tiddly Inks, sentiment by Papertrey Ink.

Cardstock: Plum and very vanilla. DSP by Stampin' Up!

Other: Copic markers, prima flowers, pearl accents, punches by Stampin' Up!, ribbons

Mojo Monday #212

2011-10-30T15:56:00.004+08:00

Hi there folks! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. It was a long one for us in WA this weekend and it has been so relaxing!

I just thought I would pop in and share the card I made for this week's sketch challenge over on the Mojo Monday Blog. Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

I have changed the panel under the main image a little, but I hope it isn't too different from the sketch!

The Mo Manning digital image was coloured using Copics.

Supplies:
Stamps: Digital Image from Mo's Digital Pencil, greeting from Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Rose Red, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White. DSP by Bo Bunny
Other: Tag punch by Stampin' Up!, stitching, rose red seam binding, border punch, pearl accents and coloured with Copic Markers.

Just Add Ink #91 - Colour Challenge

2011-10-27T21:13:00.004+08:00

Is it just me or are the weeks just flying by as it gets closer to Christmas? I just can't seem to keep up with what day it is.

Anyway, the reason I am here is to share my creation for this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink. This week it's a gorgeous colour challenge, check it out:

And here is my card, keeping along the same lines as last week's card using the sweets stamp. It is quite a versatile little stamp this one!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #140

2011-10-25T13:31:00.004+08:00

If this card looks familiar it is because it is made with all of the same paper and embellishments as my last card.

You know how it is when you have all the supplies from your previous card sitting on the table right? It was just easier to use what was already sitting there and whip up another one and this time I used the sketch from Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

If you would like to play along, here is the sketch.

And here is my card.

A failed sketch challenge attempt

2011-10-23T17:43:00.004+08:00

I made this card for a sketch challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary but realised after I made it that it was meant to be SU only and obviously this card is not. But I thought I would share it here anyway because I think this snowman is just too cute :)

JAI90 - Sketch Challenge

2011-10-21T11:25:00.006+08:00

Yay it's Friday! Not only do we have the weekend to look forward to, but also a new challenge over at Just Add Ink. And this week it's a sketch challenge.

Again I have chosen to keep this one clean & simple in design and have made a start on my Christmas cards. I managed to get a few done last weekend but for some reason this week, despite having a lot of free time to stamp I just haven't been feeling inspired. Don't you hate when that happens!

If you would like to play along, here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

FTL162 - Crafting for Katie

2011-10-16T14:27:00.004+08:00

Hello my blog visitors

Today I have a special card to share with you - not that I am saying my card making is very special but rather the cause for which I have created this card today :)

Many of you may know of Katie Renz, but if you don't you can visit her blog HERE and read her story. She is a very talented stamper and sadly is currently fighting against Stage 4 Gastric Cancer. Her courage and bravery during this battle has been nothing short of inspirational. Katie, her husband Kevin and their three beautiful boys are never far from my thoughts.

To help Katie and her family, the wonderfully talented Lori Boyd has created a gorgeous digital stamp of Katie's three sons and is selling this digi image to raise money for Katie. If you would like to help too, just visit this link HERE.

I decided to team the image with this week's sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping to create my card for Katie. Here is the sketch I used:

And here is my card:

JAI89 Inspiration Challenge

2011-10-13T21:53:00.002+08:00

This week's challenge over at Just Add Ink was definitely that for me - a challenge! I decided to pull out the brayer for this card since I have never really used one before. Well let me just say that after over a dozen attempts just to come up with this card, I think I will stick to my usual CAS style of card making and leave the brayering to the experts! LOL

Anyway, here is the challenge pic for this week.

And here is my card.

If you haven't already been there, be sure to pop over to the JAI Challenge blog and check out what the other DT members have come up with, there are some gorgeous projects to look at this week!

JAI88 - Just Add A Die Cut

2011-10-06T23:08:00.004+08:00

This week's challenge over at Just Add Ink is to use a die cut on your project. I have used two to create my project this week, which is a mini take out box. I also used the colours for the 'Create with Connie & Mary' challenge last week, but didn't get it up in time.

Supplies:

Die Cuts: Petal Cone Die and Daisies 2 Die

Stamps: French Foliage

Ink: Sahara Sand, Pool Party

Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Pool Party

Other: Basic Black satin ribbon, glimmer brad, Boho blossoms punch

Sending you sunshine

2011-10-05T16:40:00.004+08:00

Well, what can I say about this card, they don't come much simpler than this! LOL

Supplies:

Stamps: PTI and Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Pool Party and Whisper White

Ink: So saffron, more mustard, close to cocoa

Other: Linen impressions plate by PTI, buttons

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #147

2011-10-02T16:27:00.003+08:00

Here is the other card I made today. I had fun using an older set from Taylored Expressions which had been neglected for a while.

Here is the sketch.

And here is my card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Taylored Expressions

DSP: Kaiser, Cardstock by SU!

Other: Nesabilities, Copics, Ribbon, Dimensional Pearls in Espresso

JUGS 104 Sketch Challenge

2011-10-02T16:15:00.004+08:00

Well yesterday was World Card Making Day but unfortunately I missed out on playing along as we had guests staying and my craft room was being otherwise occupied. I tried to make up for it today though by spending a little time in there once the guests had left and managed to get a couple of cards done.

This first one is for the sketch challenge over at the Just Us Girls blog. Here is the sketch.

And here is my card.

Happy Belated World Card Making Day!

Hope you managed to get some stamping time in over the weekend.

Just Add Ink Colour Challenge #87

2011-09-29T22:21:00.004+08:00

Hi there! Well since I am posting it must be that time of the week again - challenge time over at Just Add Ink that is! This week it is a colour challenge and the colours are just gorgeous, here they are if you would like to play along.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pool Party, Groovy Guava (I didn't have the coral!), Crumbcake/Kraft

Stamps: PTI

Ink: Pool Party, Groovy Guava, Crumbcake

Other: Linen impressions plate, dazzling diamonds (on the clouds), balloon die by PTI

JAI86 Sketch Challenge

2011-09-23T12:21:00.003+08:00

Hello blogging friends!

Sorry I have been MIA this past week but I have been having major computer issues. My computer just shut down last week and wouldn't start back up again! I have it running again now but it has some serious problems so I don't know how long it will go for. Looks like I might be shopping around for a new one soon!

Anyway, while I can I will share with you my creation for this week's sketch challenge over at Just Add Ink. Before I do, here is the sketch in case you would like to play along yourself.

And here is my card. Once again I have kept it pretty simple.

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Island Indigo, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Taken with Teal, Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery, basic black

Other: Impressions plate by PTI, gemstones

JAI85 - Just Add Baby

2011-09-16T20:44:00.005+08:00

It's challenge time again over at Just Add Ink, and these week we have a baby theme! I couldn't decide whether to do a boy or girl card so did one of each, in the same design.

Be sure to pop over to the JAI Blog and see what the Design Team have come up with this week, and hopefully you will be inspired to play along with us :)

Clean & Simple Stamping FTL157

2011-09-11T15:51:00.002+08:00

Here is the card I whipped up for this week's sketch challenge over at Clean & Simple Stamping.

And if you would like to play along, here is the sketch.

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Bo Bunny DSP

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 134

2011-09-11T14:18:00.004+08:00

I had just finished colouring this cute little pirate image and was wondering what to do with it when Karen posted her Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge on Facebook - talk about perfect timing! It was the perfect sketch for this sweet image.

Here is the sketch for this week:

And here is my card:

Supplies:

Stamps: Pirate by Nellie Snellen, Greeting by Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Card by SU!, DSP by Kaiser

Other: Brads by SU!, coloured using copic markers

Just Add Ink Colour Challenge #84

2011-09-08T23:24:00.003+08:00

It's challenge time again over at Just Add Ink! And this week we have a colour challenge, but not your average colour challenge. This week you have to use white plus ONE other colour .. any colour of your choice!

My colour of choice was pink :)

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Whisper White and Pretty in Pink

Ink: Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Versamark

Other: Gems, stitching, white embossing powder

Sunny Challenges SC005/11

2011-09-04T12:21:00.004+08:00

I hope that you are having a wonderful weekend! It's been pretty busy here once again, and what I hoped was going to be a quiet Saturday night turned into me hosting a last minute BBQ for hubby's work colleague and his family. So there went my plans to hang out in my craft room all night!

And of course today is Father's Day here in Oz, so we have spent the morning hanging out with Gerard, making him breakfast, spoiling him with gifts and watching a DVD. Now I hope to sneak off to my room for some mummy play time ;)

Before I do, I thought I would just share this card I made for one of Madi's best friends who got her Learner Drivers Permit this week. To make the card I used the sketch from the Sunny Challenges & Creations blog. Unfortunately I didn't get it put up in time to make the challenge deadline, so hopefully I will do better with that this week!

Anyway here is the sketch challenge that they issued:

And here is my card:

To get the sparkly car, I first stamped the image in versamark ink before inking it in melon mambo. I then stamped it and coated it in a mix of Heat & Stick powder and dazzling diamonds and heat set it.

Supplies:

Stamps: all by Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Melon mambo, whisper white, DSP by Kaiser

Ink: Green galore, melon mambo, versamark, basic black

Other: Dazzling Diamonds, heat & stick powder, pom pom ribbon in melon mambo, corner rounder punch, PTI car die.

U Rock my world

2011-09-02T23:21:00.002+08:00

Just thought I would quickly share the card I made for my hubby for our anniversary today. I kept it very simple because I know he doesn't like too much 'fancy stuff' on his cards. LOL

Have a great weekend! I hope you find time to do some fun stuff :)

Just Add Ink Sketch Challenge #83

2011-09-02T22:55:00.004+08:00

Sorry I'm a bit late with my post this week! But hubby arrived home from work (in Papua New Guinea) today, just in time to go out for dinner to celebrate our 17th Wedding Anniversary.

I feel very privileged that he flew home just to celebrate with me, and will stay just long enough to celebrate Father's Day with the girls before flying back to work again.

So now that you've heard all my excuses I should show you my card right? This week over at Just Add Ink we have a sketch challenge for you. First, here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

Supplies:

Stamps: Touch of Kindness by SU!

Cardstock: Basic black, going gray, whisper white. DSP by Bo Bunny

Ink: basic black

Other: black ruffled ribbon, stitching, nestabilities, button by SU!, prismacolour pencils

Be sure to pop over to the JAI site and check out the other projects for this week.

Did someone say paper??

2011-08-29T12:09:00.004+08:00

In case you didn't know, patterned paper is my weakness! ;) I am always buying lots of different papers and so of course when I saw that Amy was giving away 1000 sheets of paper (along with some pretty amazing stamps) on her blog I just had to enter!

And if you would like to play along too for a chance to win just click HERE.

Happy Stamping!

FTL155 and Colour Q #99 Combined

2011-08-28T10:52:00.005+08:00

This week over at the Clean & Simple Stamping Blog, the challenge (along with the usual sketch) is to also incorporate one of the colour challenges from the Colour Q blog. So I have used the current challenges from both sites to create my card this week.

Here are the challenges:

And here is my card:

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Island Indigo, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Whisper White

Ink: Taken with Teal (I don't have Indigo yet), Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, SU! DSP,

Other: gems, stitching

Colour Q challenge #99

2011-08-28T10:42:00.004+08:00

Here is my first card using the colour challenge for this week from the ColourQ Blog. If you would like to play along, here are the colours:

And here is my card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Iconic Images

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, Island Indigo, Whisper White

Ink: Taken with teal (I don't have the Indigo ink yet), Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie

Other: Ribbon in crushed curry and Pumpkin pie, nestabilities, stitching, button

Colour Throwdown #156

2011-08-26T12:10:00.004+08:00

I was playing around with a couple of challenges this morning and made this card using the colour combo from the Colour Throwdown blog for this week, as well as last week's Pals Paper Arts Sketch (although it is too late to submit that one now).

And I think this card even qualifies for the 'Use your stash' Challenge over at Just Add Ink because I have not used Perfect Plum in a LONG time! lol

These are the colours for this week's challenge:

And here is my card:

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Perfect plum, crumb cake, whisper white, so saffron

Ink: Perfect Plum, So Saffron and Versamark Dazzle

Other: PTI die, pearls, stitching, border punch by SU!

JAI82 - Use your stash!

2011-08-25T20:56:00.004+08:00

This week's challenge over at Just Add Ink is a great one! We are encouraging you to use something from your stash that you haven't used in a long time. I don't know about you but that probably means half of my stash! LOL

I still haven't had much time to play this week, so I hope to get something more 'fancy' done over the weekend for this challenge. But for now I have a very simple card to show you using a Hero Arts butterfly stamp that I have had for ages and never used.

Supplies:

Stamps: Butterfly by Hero Arts, Greeting by PTI

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Black, Grey

other: Glitter, stitching

Thank You Cards

2011-08-25T10:28:00.004+08:00

Just a quick post today, as I have a lot of stuff going on here at the moment and am about to run out for an appointment. Life just seems so crazy busy! I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to this weekend as we have made no committments and I plan on just spending a nice quiet couple of days at home with my girls :)

Anyway, onto my card. I had a couple of Thank You cards to send out and so I quickly whipped these up. Since my mojo seems to have taken a bit of a break I have cased these cards. The first one is a case of the talented Nichole Heady from PTI, and my apologies but I don't know who the second card came from as there is no watermark and I appear to have saved it without the details. But if it looks familiar to you, please let me know! I have changed it up a bit ;)

Please excuse the bad photos, but I realised just as I was putting these in their envelopes that I hadn't taken a photo of them and didn't have time to set organise my usual set up.

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Real Red, Whisper White

Ink: Certainly Celery, Basic Black

Other: Dotted scallop punch by SU!, felt, Red buttons by SU!

Supplies:

Stamps: Awash with flowers by SU!, Thankyou stamp by Papertrey Ink.

Cardstock: Old Olive, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Old Olive, Basic Black, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red

Other: Ribbon, gemstones

JAI COLOUR CHALLENGE #81 AND SSSC SKETCH #130

2011-08-18T22:09:00.006+08:00

Can you believe that it's already time for another challenge over at Just Add Ink?

This week has flown by in a haze of illness here. What started out as migraines ended up as a middle ear infection in both ears for me causing me to be quite dizzy and off balance. Then Claudia came down sick today with vomiting and high temperatures. I am not sure if it is a bug or a reaction to some vaccination needles she had yesterday. Either way it meant a day at home hanging out on the couch for both of us.

I have managed to get a few cards done and this week's challenge card was one of them! If you would like to play along, here is the gorgeous colour combo.

I also combined the colour challenge with this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge . This is the sketch.

And here is my card. I have used the new Delicate Doilies stamp from Stampin' Up! which will be available on 1st September.

Supplies:

Stamps: Delicate Doilies by SU!, sentiment stamp by Papertrey Ink.

Cardstock: Cajun Craze, Peach Parfait, Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla

Ink: Cajun Craze, Bashful Blue, Groovy Guava (I didn't have the peach!)

Other: Scallop circle punch, border punch and circle punch all by Stampin' Up!

Clean & Simple Stamping - FTL153

2011-08-18T13:08:00.005+08:00

Here is a quick card I whipped up today for this week's sketch challenge over at Clean & Simple Stamping. Unfortunately I was just a couple of hours later to add my link over at Cas-ual Fridays. But if you would like to play along, here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White and two new colours; Pool Party and Island Indigo

Ink: Island Indigo, Kiwi Kiss, Pretty in Pink

Other: Stitching, SU! Textured Impressions folder, flower punch by PTI, buttons by SU!

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #82

2011-08-15T15:17:00.004+08:00

Here is a very quick (and by quick I mean under 10 minutes!) card that I created using this week's gorgeous colours from the Inkspirations Challenge Blog. If you would like to play along, here are the colours:

And here is my card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Delicate Doilies and Wonderful Words

Cardstock: Kraft (crumb cake), Very vanilla

Ink: Crumb Cake, Marina Mist and Cajun Craze

Other: Pearl Accents, Triple Layer Doily Punch by SU!

PTI - Make It Monday

2011-08-08T14:10:00.004+08:00

Well, I'm a week late but I finally got a chance to play along with last week's Make It Monday challenge over at Papertrey Ink - decreasing apertures.

Here is my card:

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Mat Stack 3 and All Booked Up.

Cardstock: Early espresso, rose red, very vanilla

Ink: Early espresso, rose red

Other: Mat Stack 3 die, SU! distressed texture plate, circle punch, scallop border punch by Fiskars, rose red seam binding.

The Stamp Spot Sketch Challenge

2011-08-05T15:20:00.004+08:00

My friend Patrice from Just Add Ink is the guest designer over at The Stamp Spot at the moment. And since I have never been visiting over there before, I had a look and noticed they have a great sketch up for this months challenge so I thought I would play along.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my card. I used the colours in the DSP as inspiration for this card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Build A Blossom by SU!, Teeny Tiny Sentiments by SU!

Cardstock: Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla, Rose Red. DSP by Bo Bunny

Ink: Rose Red, Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette

Other: Early Espresso ribbon, antique brads, Distressed texture plate, build a blossom punch

JAI79 - Just add tearing / distressing

2011-08-05T09:49:00.006+08:00

This week over at Just Add Ink, we are challenging you to use some form of distressing or tearing technique on your project.

I chose to tear my DSP and then used the distressing tool to get the rough edges on my card this week. And the DSP I have used is embossed and really shiny but for some reason I couldn't seem to capture that in the photo, so you will have to imagine it. LOL

Supplies:

Stamps by Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Whisper white, so saffron

Ink: Basic Black, Marina Mist

Other: Daisies #2 die, black satin ribbon and glimmer brad all by SU! Die by Papertrey Ink, stitching, distressing tool by Heidi Swapp

Make A Wish

2011-08-01T14:58:00.003+08:00

Here is a birthday card I made for my beautiful daughter who will be 15 tomorrow. Wow!! I still can't believe she is THAT grown up!

Supplies:

Stamps: Cupcake Collection and Tiny Treats Birthday by PTI.

Cardstock: Cool Caribbean, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White by SU!

Ink: Cool Caribbean, So Saffron, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink by SU!

Other: Pretty in pink satin ribbon by SU!, Mat Stack 5 and banner die both by PTI, Distressed texture pad by SU!

JAI78 - Colour Challenge

2011-07-28T22:49:00.007+08:00

I know I say it all the time, but I just can't believe how quickly the weeks are passing by! So much going on here at the moment, the house renovations are moving along despite the terrible weather, and next week my oldest daughter Madison will celebrate her 15th birthday! Boy, just typing that out makes me feel so much older. LOL Only 19 days later and my little baby will be 13 and I will officially be the mother of TWO teenagers. Oh boy!

This week my eldest nephew Brenton will be celebrating his 21st, and I thought I would use the gorgeous colour challenge this week over at Just Add Ink to make his card. Here are the great colours for this week, I think they would work great for either a masculine or feminine card!

And here is my card, which was inspired by one I had seen made by Betsy Veldman over at PTI

Supplies:

Stamps: Extreme guitar by SU!, Grunge Me by PTI, Big Birthday Wishes by PTI

Cardstock: Not quite navy, whisper white, certainly celery. DSP by Sassafras Lass

Ink: Not quite navy, certainly celery, sahara sand, chocolate chip

Other: PTI Number dies, navy button, stitching, distress tool

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #127

2011-07-27T10:58:00.007+08:00

Well I think this is the first card I have made in a couple of months that wasn't for a DT challenge. And to get me started (because it appears my mojo never came back to the stamp room with me!) I went through and printed out a bunch of online challenges to play along with. The first one I have done is this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge from Karen Giron's blog. And I must admit, it is a little bit brighter than my usual style.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

Supplies:
Stamps: Fabulous Florets (SU!), Inside & Out Birthday (PTI)
Cardstock: Wild wasabi, melon mambo, whisper white, basic black. DSP is Beyond the Garden by SU!
Ink: Melon mambo, wild wasabi, basic black, versamark
Other: Dotted scallop ribbon border punch (SU!), melon mambo polka dotted ribbon (turned upside down), stitching

JAI77 Sketch Challenge

2011-07-21T22:10:00.005+08:00

Hello! Yes I am still alive, in case you were wondering. LOL Things have been crazy here lately. We have had family and friends staying with us for the last two weeks so my craft room has become a guest room and our days have been so busy out and about doing lots of fun stuff. Only a couple more days and I will get my room back and I can't wait to play!

I did however manage to get a card done for this week's sketch challenge over at Just Add Ink. I had a lot of trouble with this sketch but ended up going with circles rather than squares. And once again I used my homemade DSP which I still had laying around from the cards I made a few weeks back. If you would like to play along, here is the sketch (designed by Bron).

And here is my card.

Supplies:

Stamps: On the grow (SU!), Inside & Out Birthday (PTI). Fabulous Florets

Cardstock: pumpkin pie, whisper white, daffodil delight

Ink: Pumpkin pie, daffodil delight, kiwi kiss, Ranger archival black

Other: Orange ric rac, nestabilities, copics, stitching

JAI 75 Colour Challenge

2011-07-07T23:25:00.010+08:00

Hello friends! Sorry I have been quiet this week, but we have family staying from the Eastern States so we have been busy busy busy. It also means that my craft room is currently a guest bedroom so no chance of any creating for the next week or two.

However I did manage to play with this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink and this week it is a gorgeous colour challenge. Here are the great colours should you wish to play along :)

And here is my project, not a card but a cute little gift holder thingy (not sure of the technical term?) lol I have seen these done before at convention with water bottles and I made one of these larger ones in a class recently at my local store. This one is perfect for hanging over a bottle of wine and adding some chocolate. You could also add gift cards or other little surprises if you wish.

Here is a link to an online tutorial for making the smaller version. You can change the dimensions to suit your needs.

Supplies:

Cardstock: basic black, very vanilla, cherry cobbler, soft suede. DSP by SU!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink.

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, basic black

Other: Leaf die by SU!, flower and label die by PTI, glimmer brads by SU!, scallop circle punch, black satin ribbon.

Fancy Folds Blog Hop - JAI74

2011-06-30T22:16:00.011+08:00

It's challenge time again over at Just Add Ink, but this week we have something a little different in store!

We're going on a Fancy Folds Blog Hop! We hope you'll play along. There are only 12 stops and mine is the lucky last. So if you haven't seen the others just hit the link at the bottom of my post whichwill take you back to Just Add Ink and you can start from there.
At each stop one of the Design Team Members will be showing you a different Fancy Fold that they like and providing you with a tutorial or linking up to one they used to create their project(s). We hope to give you loads of inspiration for this week's challenge which is...

To choose one fancy card fold that you like, make a new card and link it up as per usual.

Now onto my card! I have chosen the Marquee Card which was beautifully demonstrated at convention recently by Bonnie Thurber.But you can find a great online video tutorial here created by the talented Jan Tink. And since tomorrow is the first of July I thought I might share a few Christmas in July projects this month and this will be my first.

I have stamped the white cardstock with white craft ink and heat embossed it using a mix of heat & stick powder mixed with dazzling diamonds. It's hard to see the effect in the photos but it is very sparkly :)

Now just click on the link below which will take you back to JAI where you can upload your own creation for this week or check out the gorgeous projects from the other DT members.

JAI73 - Sketch Challenge

2011-06-23T22:17:00.003+08:00

This week's challenge over at Just Add Ink is a special one, and if you want to find out why be sure to pop over to the blog and check it out :)

There is a great sketch to play with this week and as usual I had to be different, and I flipped the sketch on it's side. I love that you can take the challenge and make it your own. I can't wait to see what you make so be sure to add your link over on the blog!

Here is the sketch

And here is my card. If it looks familiar, it is because it is part of a set of three I made over the last week using the Colour throwdown challenge and my home made DSP created with the Fabulous Florets stamp set.

Supplies:

Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Curly Cute

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil delight, whisper white

Ink: pumpkin pie, daffodil delight, kiwi kiss, versamark

Other: stitching, clear embossing powder, vintage brads.

More samples for colour throwdown #146

2011-06-19T16:18:00.004+08:00

Since I had almost a whole sheet left of the DSP I made using the fabulous florets set for this week's colour challenge over at the Colour Throwdown Blog, I decided to make up a couple more samples. However I can only show you 1 at the moment as the other is for an upcoming challenge card so you will have to pop back in on Friday if you want to see that one ;)

Supplies:

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango

Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Vintage Labels

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil delight

Other: Daffodil delight satin ribbon, vintage brads, stitching, PTI die

Then I also made this very plain (I think a little too plain!) and simple flower card using the new triple layer punch from SU which is so cute!

Supplies:

Carstock: Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Kiwi Kiss

Stamps: Tiny Tags

Other: Triple Layer flower punch, stitching, tiny tag punch, white brads

JAI72 - Just Add Colouring

2011-06-16T22:56:00.003+08:00

Well another week has zoomed by so quickly that I think I lost a couple of days somewhere! I did manage to whip up this card though for the weekly challenge over at Just Add Ink. This week it is to add some colouring to your card. It can be using any medium, for my card I used a combination of prismacolour pencils and copics.

I made a criss cross card this week and you can find the tutorial for that HERE.

Supplies:

Stamps: Digi Image from Tiddly Inks, sentiment by Verve Stamps.

Cardstock: Melon mambo, pumpkin pie, whisper white

Ink: Pumpkin Pie

Other: stitching, rhinestones, SU! embossing folder, nestabilities, prismacolour pencils, gamsol, copics, label punch by SU!

Colour Throwdown #146

2011-06-16T15:35:00.002+08:00

Here is a card I made for this week's challenge over at The Colour Throwdown Blog and these are the colours if you would like to play along :)

And here is my card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Just Believe (both SU!)

Cardstock: whisper white, kiwi kiss, tangerine tango

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, tangerine tango, daffodil delight

Other: Stitching, pewter brads, daffodil delight satin ribbon, versamark inkpad and clear embossing powder.

A musical interlude ...

2011-06-13T21:27:00.002+08:00

And it's not Taylor Swift this time! LOL Here is my daughter Madison's latest youtube upload. It is a new song by Selena Gomez, called 'Who Says'.

A new addition ... to my craft room!

2011-06-12T15:50:00.005+08:00

I had a big clean out and reorganisation of my craft space yesterday and it felt so good!
I can't believe I didn't take before pics, because it was such a disaster area. I only seem to share the clean ones, and had wanted to prove that it actually does get out of control .... to the point where I cannot do another thing in there because there is not one clear space on my desk! lol

I had this Ikea Expedit unit inside the wardrobe in my room, so decided to move it out into my space to create a place for my big shot rather than having to use it on my desk, and also give me somewhere to put my clip-it-up system which was taking up a large area on my desk as well.

I replaced the unit in the wardrobe with an older bookcase that we had lying around, so I got out of this little re-org for not much cost. Although I did do a 'quick' trip to Ikea yesterday to pick up the baskets, drawer units and few more clear tubs.

Anyway, here is the new addition to my room. I will also put a few of the other pics up so you can see my reorganised storage. I have so much more space now, and 3 of those boxes in my expedit are still empty!

I will put a brief description under each pic re: organisation/storage etc.

I love these drawers for the Expedit units! 1 has my PTI dies and small single stamps in it, the other has all of my adhesives, the third has my SU! wheels in it and the other has all my little jars of coloured glitter etc. 3 of the boxes at the bottom are still empty, and the other has all of my chipboard and wood stuff for altering. The tubs in the top right box hold all of my nestabilities, big shot dies and cuttlebug embossing folders (there are 4 of them in the one cube).

I have changed the side section of my desk to a longer top (which I was previously using for my computer). It has given me a lot more space, especially now that I have taken the Clip-it-Up unit off the top of it!

Just a view of my bookshelves looking into the room. The rolling file unit holds my SU! cardstock sorted by colour.

A view of the top of my desk ... much more clutter-free :D

The right bookcase. This holds all of my SU! stamps (clear and wood mount), punches in the plastic tubs, misc. DSP, etc.

The left bookcase has catalogues, unmounted stamps, old SU! DSP, the black drawers have embossing folders, ink pads, and misc. accessories in it, the white basket holds all of my envelopes. A closeup of some of the shelves. The top row are my PTI stamp sets,the just buttons, and my copics and prisma markers.

And these last two are just closeups of my stamp storage and punches etc.

Thanks for looking around my little space and enjoy the rest of your weekend :)

JAI71 - Just Add Black and White

2011-06-10T22:10:00.004+08:00

Sorry for being late with my post this week, the days seem to have got away from me and before I knew it, it was Friday again!

That means time for another challenge from Just Add Ink. And this week it is to make a card using only black and white. Technically my card is black and vanilla but I figured it was close enough right?

Supplies:

Cardstock: Basic black, very vanilla, DSP by SU!

Ink: basic black

Other: Butterfly die, black satin ribbon

Birthday wishes (with a sneak peek!)

2011-06-09T15:31:00.002+08:00

Since I managed to get off work a little early today, I decided to make a quick card using the upcoming Button Buddies set which we were lucky enough to get at Convention.

I have cased one of Gretchen's card designs to make my card as I wanted a nice simple and clean looking card, which is what Gretchen does so perfectly! Although I think I may have too much white on mine, and could have done with a smaller stamped area. I have sprayed the vase with the shimmer paint (in a mist form) but I couldn't quite capture it in the photo.

Supplies:

Stamps: Button Buddies (SU!) greeting by PTI

Cardstock: Crumb cake, pumpkin pie, melon mambo and whisper white

Ink: Not quite navy, pumpkin pie

Other: SU@ border punch, flower buttons and daffodil delight satin ribbon.

Copics on Kraft (and a reno update)

2011-06-06T21:04:00.004+08:00

This weekend at my colouring in class (I love saying that!) lol, we coloured on Kraft cardstock using our copics. I love the different effect you get doing this.

Here is the card I made using the image that we coloured.

HOME RENO UPDATE:

A couple of weeks ago we had a new brick fence built, which we had rendered this weekend. Now all we need to do is get the inserts made for between the posts, as well as 2 gates and of course paint it which we will do when we paint the house.

So here are a few pics of the new fence :)

JAI70 - Sketch Challenge

2011-06-02T22:06:00.004+08:00

One great thing about the fact that it's almost Friday (apart from the fact that we have a long weekend coming up!) is that it's also time for another challenge over at Just Add Ink.

This week it's a sketch challenge, and a circle sketch at that! Here is the sketch if you would like to play along (and we hope you do!).

And here is my card:

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey ink

Cardstock: Crumb Cake (aka Kraft), Early Espresso, Whisper White, DSP by PTI

Ink: Old Olive, Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie

Other: Early Espresso satin ribbon, nestabilities, stitching, gemstones

Sparkly Butterflies (and a sneak peek)

2011-06-01T19:30:00.007+08:00

Earlier this month we had our annual Stampin' Up! convention in Melbourne. It was so wonderful to spend three days surrounded by so many stamping friends! It was great to catch up with some I had bet before, as well as meet lots of NEW friends :)

And of course one of the highlights of convention is getting a sneak peek of some things to come. I haven't mentioned any of the projects earlier as we were not allowed to share them before June 1st. But now of course we are able to give you a glimpse (or sneak peek) of some of the goodies that we have to look forward to!

I thought I might show you something different each day over the next week or so, and here is my first project. This is from an upcoming set called 'Creative Elements'. And I'm sure you are going to love it!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Basic black, whisper white, Ice Cream Parlour DSP

Ink: Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo

Stamps: Creative Elements (sneak peek), Sincere Salutations

Other: stitching, dazzling diamonds, heat and stick powder, gemstones, border punch

JAI69 - Fussy Cutting

2011-05-27T08:51:00.006+08:00

It's challenge time again over at Just Add Ink, and this week Paula has come up with a great one for us! It's time to grab those paper snips or exacto knives and do some fussy cutting on your project this week.

I have made a (large) tag this week, using the Growing Green stamp set from Stampin' Up!
Supplies:

Stamps: Growing Green, Whimsical Words, French Script background stamp
Cardstock: Crumb Cake(Kraft), Very Vanilla and DSP by Kaiser
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake
Other: Label Punch, Very Vanilla seam binding, pearl accents, crystal effects, stitching, prismacolour pencils

Life is short, read fast!

2011-05-25T11:27:00.005+08:00

Just a quick post today to share this simple card that I made. I hope to be back later with more if I can get into my craft room today.

It is very loud here as there is a guy on the roof with a pressure cleaner preparing it for painting. Another day or so and I might be able to share some more progress pics on the house. It's coming along nicely and only a few more things to do now, in the meantime it is looking like a tip outside! lol

Supplies:

Images: Digital image by Tiddly Inks, sentiment by PTI
Cardstock: Blue bayou and river rock by SU! DSP by Kaiser
Ink: Blue Bayou
Other: Pearl accents, lace trip, paper piercer, copic markers

The Gruffy Little Gnome

2011-05-22T14:46:00.006+08:00

Just a quick post today as I am about to head off with the family to watch the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie at the cinema. But how cute is this cranky little fella? We coloured him in yesterday in our Copics class and then made a cute little page holder/bookmark with him.
I purchased this image from Whimsy Stamps (in digital format) and the greeting is from the PTI set called All Booked Up. I thought it was perfect for this little bookmark.As you can see he takes his job of marking my place very seriously!

JAI68 - Colour Challenge

2011-05-20T10:17:00.005+08:00

Hi! Remember me? I know it's been a while, sorry! I returned home from an awesome time at convention in Melbourne on Sunday night and hit the ground running and haven't stopped since. But now that I have a nice quiet weekend ahead of me (the first in a couple of months!) I look forward to sharing some convention photos with you as well as some more card projects. And of course lots more happening with the house reno's too :)

This week my eldest daughter also had her concert after winning the You Tube competition a while back. She played live in front of over a thousand people and I was so nervous for her! Of couse she did brilliantly and made me so proud (and yes I did shed a tear or two). So I will come back and share a few pics of that as well.

In the meantime, it is of course Friday which means it's challenge time over at Just Add Ink. And this week the girls have a gorgeous colour challenge for you. Due to time restrictions I have gone with a very simple card this week, which was inspired by one that Nicole Heady from PTI did back in April.

So if you would like to play along, here are the colours.

And here is my card.

Supplies:
Stamps: Paptertrey Ink

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum, Pear Pizazz, Whisper white

Ink: Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum, Kiwi Kiss (I didn't have PP), basic black
Other: Scalloped border punch and black satin ribbon by SU!

It's not easy being green

2011-05-08T21:23:00.004+08:00

When uploading my JAI challenge card earlier I saw this one and realised I hadn't uploaded it yet! I made it quickly last week but have been so busy that I had forgotten to share it.

It's just a pretty simple, and very green card! The lily pad is covered in crystal effects to give it that nice shiny appearance.

Stamps, die and DSP by PTI. Ribbon by Stampin' Up! and coloured with copics.

JAI67 - Sketch Challenge

2011-05-08T15:34:00.004+08:00

Howdy folks! Sorry my blog post is so late, but with all the chaos that has been going on around here I completely forgot to put this up until today.

We finally got all of the furniture back in the house late on Friday night and hooked the computer back up, and then the renderers have been in on Sat/Sun and finished the outside of the house. It looks great and I can't wait to get it painted!

This week the girls at Just Add Ink have a great sketch challenge for you. This sketch was designed by Bron, and I am sure you will have as much fun with it as I did. For something a little different, I decided to flip it on it's side, as it worked better with the image I was using :)

If you would like to play along (and we hope you do!) here is the sketch.

And here is my card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Digital Image by Tiddly Inks, Greeting stamp by PTI

Cardstock: Marina Mist, Early Espresso, Whisper White (all SU!) DSP by Bo Bunny

Ink: Chocolate chip, old olive (SU!)

Other: Scallop border punch, Label punch, circle punches and word window by SU! Certainly celery button by SU!, twine, Copic Markers

I finally have my new floors!

2011-05-06T21:04:00.011+08:00

After three (long) days of living in a house with no furniture our new floors are finally done! I can't tell you how glad I am to see the back of all of the grout that needed constant cleaning. And the house doesn't look quite so 'white' now :)

Since we had to move things out and back in we decided to rearrange rooms. The living room became the dining room, the games room became the living room and the old dining room (which was a small space) will have a new buffet and some chairs at the breakfast bar. We will also buy a nice big square table to fill the space of the dining room. I cannot believe how much bigger the house looks with the furniture more spread out!

Anyway, this post would mean nothing without pics right? Here are some before and after shots. They were taken at night so the light is a little 'orange'. The floors look more 'warm' in reality.

THE ENTRY WAY BEFORE & AFTER

THE HALLWAY BEFORE & AFTER

THE KITCHEN BEFORE & AFTER

THE OLD GAMES (JUNK) ROOM - NOW THE LIVING ROOM

THE OLD LIVING ROOM - NOW THE DINING ROOM

THE OLD BRICK HEARTH IN THE FORMAL LOUNGE BEFORE & AFTER

JUST A COUPLE OF RANDOM SHOTS :) NEW BUFFET STILL TO GO UNDER THE WINDOW

More birthday RAK's to share

2011-05-03T16:00:00.007+08:00

Since my birthday I have received a few more birthday RAK's and I thought I would share them with you.

Thanks again to all of the very talented ladies that have taken the time to make and send these gorgeous cards to me, I have loved receiving them! The first two are from other members of the JAI Design Team and the final two are from members of the Stampin' Up! in Oz Yahoo Group that I am in.

The renovations have commenced!

2011-04-30T13:40:00.005+08:00

I am quite excited, as the renovations have finally started on our house .. which is in serious need of a makeover!
Today the renderers came and started on the front and 1 side of the house and will be back over the next few days to finish up. It will be a while before we can paint it (once it dries out) but I can't wait until it's finished!
And on Wednesday we have new timber flooring being put in through all of the living rooms/halls & kitchen. I will be so glad to see the back of the cold tiles ... no more trying to keep the grout clean and having to wear slippers even in summer because the floors are so cold!
After that we will be having the roof restoration done, which includes replacement of broken tiles and some guttering and then repainting. It will go from orange to charcoal which will look great with the render.
Next up will be the front landscaping which includes garden beds and new lawn ... so excited about that! At the moment we have what could only be described as straw covering our front yard. LOL
And finally a new patio out the back and a front fence with electronic sliding gate.
Anyway, I just thought I would show you a sneak peek of what has happened so far. This is before and as I said - it's in serious need of a makeover
And this is what they got done this morning.
I will bring you more pics as the transformation progresses.

JAI66 - Just Add A Flower

2011-04-29T20:00:00.004+08:00

Sorry I'm a bit late with this week's post. I have had my mum visiting and today we headed off to Penguin Island (just off the south coast of Perth) for the day and have been enjoying some champagne while watching the royal nuptials since arriving home.

This week the girls at Just Add Ink have decided that with Mothers Day only a week away, we would add a flower to our projects. You won't hear me complaining ... I LOVE flowers :) And be sure to go and check out what the other DT members have done this week, the projects are gorgeous as always!

Here is my card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet Summer by SU!

Ink: Ranger Black Archival Ink

Cardstock: Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White. DSP by Bo Bunny

Other: Seam binding in Rose Red by SU!, flower punch by SU!, pink pearls, paper piercer, prisma colour pencils

An anniversary card

2011-04-27T20:25:00.004+08:00

I was asked to make this card for a work colleague to give to his wife, as it was his first wedding anniversary on Sunday. His instructions were 'black and cream with swirls' so I just went with that and tried to make it in an elegant style. I hope she liked it!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Stamps by SU!, Ink: Basic Black, real red marker; Other: Textured plate by SU!, basic black satin ribbon, antique brad

I love RAK's!

2011-04-26T10:19:00.005+08:00

I just thought I would share the gorgeous RAK's I have received lately. This first one was from my dear friend Andrea, don't you just love that sentiment and the cute kitty!

And these next ones were all for my birthday on Sunday. These are from fellow JAI design team members:

And these ones are from members of a Yahoo Group I am in 'Stampin' Up! in Oz.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter. I have more chocolate around here than I need and really have to stop myself from just constantly snacking on it!

And now I am off to spend some time with my mum, who surprised me with a visit for my birthday from Sydney and will be staying for a week. Best present EVER!!

Thanks to everyone that sent me birthday messages and cards, I had a wonderful day :)

JAI65 - Just Add Friendship/Mateship for ANZAC Day

2011-04-22T11:50:00.003+08:00

What a big weekend we have coming up! Not only is it Easter and my birthday but it is also ANZAC Day!

This means a lot more than just an extra day off. ANZAC Day is a very special day in Australian and New Zealand history. ANZAC stands for the Australia New Zealand Army Corps and it is significant because on the 25th of April, 1915 Australia went into battle for the first time as an independent nation. We had only become a country in 1901 and prior to that we were a loose collection of colonies and this was our "baptism of fire" on the shores of Gallipoli.

Our troops landed on a beach at dawn (now called ANZAC Cove) on the Turkish peninsula on that fateful day. They suffered a terrible defeat but our men fought with great bravery. The battle really highlighted the character traits of mateship and sacrifice.

We talk about the Anzac Spirit which was born that day and use the term as a mark of great respect. Australia and New Zealand commemorate this day with a Dawn Service and Parade to remember those who fought and gave their lives for their country, not only in World War 1 but in all subsequent wars.

So in the spirit of Friendship/Mateship we encourage you to make that the focus of your card for this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink. I found this adorable digi image by Mo and I immediately thought it represented mateship ... after all isn't his dog a boy's best friend?

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Dusty Durango,Whisper White. DSP by Kaiser
Ink: Ranger Archival Sepia
Other: Nestabilities, SU! Label Punch, stitching, Copic Markers, Prismacolour pencils

Some exciting news ... and a thank you!

2011-04-15T20:12:00.004+08:00

Thank you to all of my friends and blog/facebook readers that voted for Madison in the You Tube Boombox 2011 competition. I am SO PROUD to announce that SHE WON!! And will now be performing as part of the Perth Boombox 2011 Concert Tour in May. It will be so exciting to watch her perform in front of so many people, and she is very nervous having only ever performed once at school before. But I know she will be fantastic. Considering her entry was a last minute addition, video'd very late one night with no practice she has done amazingly well! So thanks again for supporting my dd and I will be sure to share the pics/video when she performs. And if you want to check out the list of other winners (including Madi) you can see the announcement HERE.

JAI64 - Chocolate Wrapper Inspiration Challenge

2011-04-14T23:44:00.004+08:00

With Easter just around the corner, what better timing could there be for a challenge that focuses on chocolate? And that's what the girls at Just Add Ink have for you this week, our challenge was to create a project using one of your favourite chocolate bars for inspiration.

Since I can't pick one favourite (it's like asking me who is my favourite child!) I went with what was on my desk at the time - a Cherry Ripe :)

And here is my card.

Supplies: Stamps: A flower for all seasons, teeny tiny sentiments, mat stacks by PTI; Ink: Riding hood red, basic black; Cardstock: Riding hood red, daffodil delight, whisper white; Other: Tulip embossing folder by SU!, PTI die cut, satin ribbon, button, copic markers, dimensional magic.

Can you help my daughter Madison?

2011-04-11T23:26:00.002+08:00

Madi has decided she wants to enter the You Tube Boombox competition, but with only a couple of days to go, it's a late entry! So she needs people to visit her video on youtube ... the more visits the better ... and if you 'like' the vid or comment that's even better! Thanks so much :) Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyPltfiiA7U&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL Oh, and feel free to share with your friends ... the more visitors she gets the better!!

And now for something completely different ....

2011-04-11T15:10:00.007+08:00

(Yes, I have been watching a little Monty Python) LOL But this next project IS a little different for me, and dare I say a little risque?? But I just love this rather saucy image by KennyK. We coloured this in our copics class on the weekend, and the project was to make a monochromatic image focusing on adding 'shine' (I hope you can see a little of that technique in her boots). Anyway, I decided to make a quick tag with the image since I don't know who I would send a card to with this image on it! LOL Supplies: Cardstock: Basic Black, real red, DSP by Kaiser Copics: W0, W1, W3, W5, W7, 100 Other: Digi image by KennyK Downloads, gemstones by SU!, paper doilie, misc ribbons

A little vintage

2011-04-11T15:06:00.002+08:00

Here is another one I did on the weekend ... I guess you could say this is a little vintage? I don't know :)

Supplies

Stamps: Bliss & Curly Cute, all Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Chocolate chip, very vanilla, DSP by Bo Bunny

Ink: chocolate chip, pink pirouette, rose red

Other: Chocolate chip satin ribbon, stitching, die by Papertrey Ink

Some quick cards

2011-04-11T14:54:00.006+08:00

Just a quick share of a few cards that I whipped up on the weekend.

These first ones were cases ... and I'm sorry I can't acknowledge the source but there is no watermark on them and I have had them saved to my computer for a while now but there is no name attached (if you know who made them please let me know and I will add their name).

I did the same design but in different colours and with different sentiments, a nice quick one to whip up - gotta love that!

Supplies

Stamps: Giga guidelines and dot spot by Papertrey Ink, Curly Cute by SU!

Ink: Gable green, tempting turquoise, cool caribean, basic black, melon mambo, pumpkin pie, pretty in pink

Cardstock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Gable Green

Other: Gemstones by SU!, Corner rounder punch, certainly celery satin ribbon