Taking a Break

Hi to anyone that pops on here. Am taking a break from the hustle and bustle of life and bringing up two children under the age of 3. Lots of heartache and stress that just get in the way of card making but will post at a later stage one day. Thank you for looking and leaving comments on my humble blog :)

At last! Stamp TV

I dont know whether you have heard of Gina K designs or not, but please take a look as she is divine! Gina also has this fantastic show called Stamp TV which has a lot of professionally filmed techniques on stamping and other papercraft projects. To the left of my blog is a badge which will take you straight there. Please do as it is so well the trip - oh and a word to the wise.....make sure you have stacks of time and a big mug of coffee as it is huge!!!!!

Blog Hopping #2

Once again I find myself being dragged out of bed at 4.30am by a screaming 2 yo toddler who just wants to go downstairs and will not be convinced that it is night time (even though I tried for nearly an hour to get him back to bed) and mummy is very very tired.........sigh..........if only I didn't care that he will wake up his 1 yo sister up and his very grumpy late shift working dad!

So.......I set my son up with a Diego dvd and hot chocolate; me a cup of tea, my computer and some toothpicks for my eyes, and start blog hopping. There are some great blogs out there and I feel that I need to give credit.

Heart Hugs - a challenge blog that uses Etsy stores for inspiration - great prizes, great stories (especially Parker's birth story)

Stamp Happy - designer for 2RedBananas. True art!

Paper Clipping - Got this link from Ali Edward's site. There is a video tutorial on 'bubbles' and visual triangles on Ali's blog, but Paper Clipping have many more free ones, plus lots more for members. If you have ever had trouble scrapbooking (like me...sigh...) then, this is for you.

Naturally Felt - Etsy Store member that sells beautiful environmentally saving lunch bags; totes and stuff for kids.........amazingly beautiful fabrics used. Well worth the look.

Well, thats about it from me. I made a card for my beautiful niece Emily who turned 10 this month but as usual didn't take a photo.

There won't be much blogging happening here for the next month as we are moving house (for 9 months whilst ours is being built) and as you can appreciate - is a huge headache, so dont give up on me and please come back. Love the comments. Promise I will be good and post lots once we have moved.

Blog Hopping

Most nights I am too tired to even think so I spend those times sitting on the couch and blog hop my way through some amazing creative websites. I usually dont bookmark them; I let my fingers do the walking through other links and....come what may. But I think it is time to spread the word so this entry is dedicated to the fantastic blogs i have come across tonight:

Kelly Rae, taking flight into Art, Love + Life - beautiful plus a great blog candy give away!

House Mouse Challenge - for those of us who have mouse house stamps and dont know what to do with them. there are some fantastical creations for you to peruse

The Sweetest Thing - one of my alltime go to blogs. Karen has a great card sketch for you to use.

Janneke's Creations - how she creates her cards using numerous DSP's leaves me in awe!

Diary of Claudine Hellmuth - beautiful

Tim Holtz - what more can I say?

thats all for now folks :) Time for bed.

Update Slice Machine cards

Thank goodness for Corel Paint Shop! My DH showed me how to get rid of the 'love smudge' and I can now show you the card that i mentioned in the previous post. thanks for looking :)

Using my Slice Machine

Just wanted to show you some cards I made over the weekend. It took me one night to make three cards - now that is really good for me. I was hankering over an idea my hubby gave to me using my slice machine. He asked me if I have used the patterns for making masks - never thought about it really but he is the one that thinks outside the square. Now I am going to show you two cards close up but the other card has a mark on it - courtesy of my daughter :)
This first card uses a circle mask. I stamped the French Script background stamp from SU! over the top in Chocolate chip. I also did some faux stitching around the circle for interest and popped on the butterfly from the Merci stamp set and coloured him in gently with the blender pen (not my best friend I am afraid). The butterfly is embossed in clear EP.

This next card i cased from HERE using the Technique Tuesday Loving Words by Ali Edwards. This is my DH's favourite as it is simple and clean.

And here is the lot together - the one on the right is the one my daughter loved a lot. I cut the circle with my slice machine and stamped the circle with the same background stamp as the first card, embossed and sponged, then stuck on the inside of the card. Some left over DSP from the last SU! catalogue backed on Purely Pomegranate cardstock is great if you dont have the appropriate ribbon. I found a button in my stash which went well with my one and only flower in my embellishment tin and voila - card finished. Thanks for looking.

Another thINKspot Challenge Card....

Hi All

Please excuse the terrible quality of photo but as it is now 10.30pm and I have no hope in heck in finding sun at that time of night, this will have to do. I just thought I would enter one more card for Marelle Taylor's catalogue challenge, and as this ends at the end of the month....well, you can see my dilemma.

I have used the sketch from page 29 of the catalogue, and have just turned it on its bottom. I had some coloured and crystal effect(ed) flowers left over from another challenge and decided to see if I could make it work. My greatest problem has been starting something and not finishing it so I have all these half finished projects. I think it turned out okay albeit a bit bright but that is the way I like 'em sometimes :) Thanks for looking.

Supplies: SU Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Tempting Turquoise; SU Ink: Summer Sun, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip Classic and Whisper White Craft; Stamp Sets: Technique Tuesday Loving Words stamp set; Scrappy Cat clear stamps Timbres Clair; white gel pen; dimensionals.

Some Blog Candy by Kellie

I came across a great blog the other day by Kellie who is also having some fantastic blog candy because she reached 20,000 hits! Now all you have to do is check it out and also check out her great creations. I have left a link to the left of my blog. Thanks for the opportunity Kellie and good luck with your future endeavours :)

A thINKspot Catalogue Challenge

I decided to go for Marelle Taylor's challenge as my mojo just hasn't been there. It took me only a couple of minutes to find a card (27A); half an hour when I changed my mind and then went back to the same card I chose before, and two minutes choosing colours by using a printed sheet of colour combinations using the old in colours from the last catalogue. I really like how it turned out. It isn't far off the original card but as it is my first challenge using the catalogue I thought I would keep it simple simon (kiss).

Anywho, I have seen in the past how some cards have punched out circles in matching cardstock stuck over the card; rather like dry embossing. I also didn't have any coordinating ribbon so used cardstock with a stamped message on it. Hope it reaches muster Marelle :)

Supplies: Cardstock - SU! purely pomegranate (textured); pumpkin pie; old olive. stamp set - SU! merci; Technique Tuesday Loving Words by Ali Edwards. Accessories - 1/2 inch circle punch, distresser, dimensionals.

A home made Mothers Day card for me? No Way!

How was Mothers Day for you? Mine wasn't going to be particularly easy as my DH works until midnight so needs his 'sleep in' which leaves me to get up to our wonderfully gorgeous 2yo and 16mo. As my son always loves to get up 'immediately' at 5.30am - 6am, it is left up to me to go downstairs with him before he wakes up the rest of the house. I make a huge cup of tea and potter around and clean up.

Anyway, the night before mothers day, DH rang me at 9pm..........

"Hello my gorgeous" (he always calls me that *blush* how can I resist?).........."You know all your cardmaking stuff? Could you please select me some cardstock and embellishments (embellishments?.......he does listen to my ramblings!), and other things and leave them out on the table? Oh and have we got any wrapping paper?"

Wrapping paper was upstairs in DD room - guess that was too late.....lol......... I swear DH gets later and later every year with this! Mind you I wasn't complaining as the usual fair is to get some form of printed up card from a hallmark card programme - shock horror I know!

Anywhoo, that morning, my darling 2yo decided that at 6.30am, his little sister also needed to wake up so went into her room, turned on her light on and sat in the cot with her. That would be nice and a complete 'awwwwww' moment except she wasn't at all ready to wake up and just sat there crying with her dummy in her mouth......great. This is got the makings of a great day.

Came downstairs with my deleriously tired DH who had crawled into bed at 2.30am that morning and had left all my craft stuff on the table - a playground for my darling DS!!!!

I received my card with much aplomb, which I have to say I was amazed and pleasantly surprised at what he come up with (details below), with my present (wrapped in butchers paper from our sons stash). I got a "okay, I am off to bed now - see you later'" and with a kiss he was gone!

The present was sweet - I found a pad of really good quality smooth watercolour paper (weight 300gsm) and told DH about it a while back and so he went back into the Art store and bought 3 different pads of various weights for me. Better than any flower!

And the card? Well, even though the verse was short, the simple process of him making that huge effort in using my (god forbid!) 'scrapbook stuff' to make me a card that he designed, meant more than all the pretty words in the world.......

Card process (as told by DH) "to start with, I had a look at what you laid out for me - I didn't want to use anything too expensive, so looked at stuff that you already had cut out - I decided on a pinky red and brown, so found colours I liked. I liked the printed up DSP and realised it was double sided so that was nice. I used a lot of already cut out shapes and used that as a border and as decoration inside the card. the rest is self explanatory"

Well, there you go. He made up for taking himself back to bed by making me scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast (10.30am) and making me fresh herb pasta to go with the rockin' yummy pasta sauce I made the other night :) Hope you all had a lovely Mothers day and thanks for taking the time out to read this loooong post!

Kristina Werner's CI #50

After looking at Kristina Werner's colour challenges week after week, I thought that I would be brave and try one. I am not one for challenges as I really dont think I am good enough (especially looking at all the wonderful entries this week HERE) but just loved the colour combination she chose.I first of all stamped a heap of flower images onto white cardstock, then coloured them in with markers and covered the images with crystal effects to give a nice glossy shine and make them pop. Sticking the flower tops (some on dimensionals, and some not) onto yellow cardstock, I then embroidered the stems (detatched blanket stitch) with brown thread; used dimensionals to pop main image onto the brown cardstock; used a white gel pen to faux stitch around the card and stamped the greeting with white pigment ink and then embossed. I thought the whole card looked unbalanced, especially as I rounded the corners on the centrepiece, so used a scallop punch to edge the base card and used a scallop edge for yellow, red and turquoise strips - I thought it looked cool ;)

Now completing the card turned out to be the easiest thing in the world - picture taking brings on a whole new meaning. I must have taken at least 50 photos (not including the ones my hubby tried to take for me with me throwing directions at him like 'you have to focus on the scallop edges and the embroidered stems' and 'no, dont take it from the front, it needs to be on the side' and 'oh no, I dont think you have the lighting right') So after my 'helpful' directions, he gave up and I had a go.............50 shots later I end up with these. It is finally raining in parched Adelaide so it is overcast and had to make do with the poor lighting. Oh, it also took two whole days of photos to get these!!!!

Supplies: Stamps - Scrappy Cat clear stamps Timbres Clair, Stampin Up! Yummy; Cardstock and Ink - Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Whisper White (craft), Summer Sun; Accessories - brown embroidery thread, scallop punch, crystal effects, dimensionals, white gel pen, hubby's brain.

The belated thank you's..........

Hi,

The following 2 cards are the ones I made whilst my boys were away. I decided to get out both of my 'robot' sets from Darkroom Door by Rachel Greig. I have only used them a couple of times but they are so cute! As the images are so fine, I had trouble with stamping them onto watercolour paper because of the grain, but I guess that just makes them look rustic ;) Anyways, the first card has both robots stamped straight onto Kraft cardstock with Chocolate Chip ink. The front of the card has the girl robot who has a paper piecsed skirt on, and the inside of the card I have gently used a blender pen to colour in his hair - seem to always ball up the paper when I use a blender pen :(

Anyway, this card goes to Kari who is such a lovely demonstrator - have only met her once, but she has bent over backwards for me. (please excuse the writing on the left card - didn't photograph it till after I wrote in it. I always forget to take photos of my cards!)

The next card was a tag I cut from my slice then I used stars also cut from my slice machine, stuck onto the kraft cardstock and sponged with chocolate chip, red, and tempting turquoise. I then used the stars, arrow and lightning bolt from the same stamp set and stamped them in chocolate chip. Made my own decorative cardstock! Cheap too! lol I stamped the girl robot onto watercolour paper (this is where the image doesn't come out too sweet) and then using an aquapen, coloured her in using various inks. I then added two brads for her 'bras', stamped 'you're awsome' in three ink colours, embossed with clear embossing powder, and then cut them out and stuck them on! Tada.......easy peasy. This thank you card goes to Alisa who has been an absolute gem. Thanks Alisa!

Mothers day and some very belated thank you's!

Hi All,

Just wanted to share some cards with you that I made in a fit of spurts the other day. My darling sweet partner decided to take himself and our very boisterous, hard to handle at present, son off to stay at MIL's the other day for two whole days! No boys in the house! Yayyyyy.

So what's a girl to do with so much time on her hands and with only one child to handle (and a very easy one at that!)? Make cards thats what!

Using Whisper White as the base cardstock (something I rarely do), I randomly stamped the flowers using staz-on as I was planning on watercolouring the image - which I must say went better than I had hoped. Not had much success in the past using water on cardstock but wanted to try a technique I saw on Melanie's site which meant having to use cardstock. I just added a strip of coloured cardstock for contrast as was too lazy to try the second part of her technique (check it out!)

Anyway, ran out of steam. Will post the other cards later - just making sure the receivers have received them first!

Supplies: In Full Bloom (SU!), Whisper White and Cameo Coral cardstock, Purely Pomegranate double stitched ribbon, rubons, markers, aqua paintbrush.

Another Male Card.........

Hi All,

Another male card? Yes I did it! They are the hardest cards for me to make - especially as I really have no specific generic male stamps.

The sketch I found on Amy's site. I did have some difficulty in getting the colours right but I think I managed okay - okay well, I used the colour wheel *wink*. The tag used was cut out with my slice machine I distressed the edges and sponged it with some ink. I went through my old stamp stash (ie. non SU stuff that I have in a tin) and found a multiple greetings stamp - bit like those date stamps that have the roller on the side. Used that to stamp the various greetings on the tag. The chipboard letters were coloured in using a marker and then slathered with crystal effects (gotta love that stuff!). I used every day twine for the card and just wrapped and weaved it amongst the strips of cardstock. The rest is self explanatory! Now I just have to post it.....

Recipe: Sanded Background stamp set SU, Really Rust, Bordering Blue, Mellow Moss, Kraft, Whisper White cardstock SU, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red ink SU, Versamark ink, Heidi Swapp chipboard alphabet letters, crystal effects SU, twine, dimensionals.

Male Birthdays are hard until..............

Hi Again!

So soon after the last posting? Shock Horror!

This is a card I made my BIL for his birthday. I haven't had a great deal of practice with male cards (try never...) but as soon as I saw this card on Alisa Tilsner's site, I had to try and replicate it using stamps I had in my stash - tend to look at cards on websites and tell myself 'I just need that stamp set to make that card!' Well, by using the Baroque Motifs set, I think I managed to achieve something equally similar. The one thing I did try to do is 'distress' the edges to give it a more 'grungy' look. I also love the effect of the sanded background stamp. So glad I got it :) I love the sponging that Alisa does on her cards. It just gives it more pop. Now I just have to replicate it again for another male birthday ;)

recipe: Baroque Motifs, Sanded Background (SU) and Robot Vol. 2 (Darkroom Door) Stamp Sets, River Rock, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip and Certainly Celery CS, Wild Wasabi, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip ink, vintage brads, scallop punch, distresser

Love Note Box

Hi All,

Again such a long space between entries. Time does fly by. I just want to show you the card and present I made my MIL for her birthday the other day.

The birthday card using 'Live Your Dream' stamp set and Afternoon Tea DSP by SU on the left has about three layers (dont think I have ever done that many before) I love this stamp set as it is so versatile and has so many bits and pieces to it. I used Crystal Effects all over the bird and the butterflies - great for the butterflies as it helps to mould their wings into flight mode.

The actual present I made her was a 'Love Note box' which I 'borrowed' off of Makeesha Byl's site. She is amazingly talented! Makeesha's box is designed to fit the 3 x 3 love note cards from SU but I found it cheaper to make my own, which are bigger by 1/2 inch. I even fit some extra yummy Haigh's chocolates and a voucher.......

I made six cards in total plus matching envelopes - the envelopes I made out of very cheapo watercolour paper from Big W (emphasis on 'paper' as it is very thin stuff). I found it the perfect weight for the envelopes and the bonus was I could decorate it without the inked image bleeding. I stamped the bottom left corner of each envelope with the little flower from the stamp set and the back with the butterfly so that they all matched with the cards. I tried to keep with the theme of the DSP and stamp set and think I succeeded fairly well with some help from my hubby who became my 'ideas' man (thanks B x x) I also stamped the little flower image inside every card to continue the theme. Simple but hopefully effective. I left out the greeting inside the card so that it could be used for whatever she wanted. I just included a couple of generic rubon greetings on the front of two cards (the only ones I had left!).

Thanks for looking.

recipe: Live your Dream stamp set, Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Groovy Guava CS, Afternoon Tea DSP, blue bayou double stitched ribbon, brown ribbon generic, scallop punch, rubons, white gel pen.

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #8

Hi All,

Well, this is my first ever sketch challenge! It has taken me three days to complete as with kids - well, you know........... my son loves to help but he also is labelled 'Connor the destroyer' in our household, so I had to find ways and means to finish it (even using the top of the washing machine!)

Anyways, back to the challenge. I loved the sketch as soon as I saw it. Karen's site is amazing and I am always in awe of her creations. This one just seemed to fall into place. It is quite a simple looking card and that is the look I was going for - well, that's my excuse anyways!

Supplies: Christina Re DSP; Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou and Whisper White SU Cardstock; In full bloom and sanded background SU stamp sets; Blue Bayou double stitch ribbon, dimensionals, scallop edge punch.

Hi All,

This card was made for my dear SIL who's baby has been in hospital since he was born. He had a big operation yesterday to help him thrive and my SIL is feeling the strain. He will be 3 months next week and my heart bleeds for him as he is a very sick little boy. I just wanted to show her that my family loves and cares for her and her little family so much!

On with the card...........it was cased completely from the mini catalogue, with the exception of using the sanded background stamp for texture and changing the ruby red to rose red because I had that ink pad and couldnt be bothered getting the markers out for the flower.

supplies: Embrace Life stamp set; River Rock, Rose Red & Groovy Guava CS; Mellow Moss and Rose Red Ink, 1/2 inch circle punch, groovy guava ribbon and dimensional adhesive.

Teabag Folding

Hi Guys,
Apologies once again for the delay in postings. Time just seems to fly by when you have littlies to look after.

I saw a beautiful card on Teneale William's site on teabag folding and decided to give it a try. It was so easy! I ended up making two cards but big apologies on the quality of photo - it was late and I am having major issues with my camera (being that we took it to the beach and got it wet and now the screen doesnt work!).

Anyway, hope you get a bit of an idea. The paper that I used is from Christina Re - a little invitation shop at Fullarton near where i live stocks a huge amount of her beautiful papers. This particular black and white number has polka dots on one side and stripes on the other - depending on where i punched out the squares made a big difference on the look of the overall result. I stamped the background image in versamark with the french script background stamped and then embossed it in clear ep. The Real Red cardstock was from SU as was the metal tag. The ribbon was just a cheapy I bought at a habberdashery store.

Enjoy.

***blogger will not let me alter where I place the pictures, so please excuse the aesthetics of this entry! grrrr

Stampers Quest

Hi Guys,
Nothing new to post as yet - still making a card for my friend who is turning 40 in a couple of days but will remember to take photos and post it online when I can. But for now, I just want to let you know of a great website I have been to called Stampers Quest. All thanks goes to Melanie from Smartie-Artie Mel who left a lovely comment on my blog. Seriously guys, this site is amazing - has great tutorials on how they create different techniques etc....

Okay, can't rave on enough about them. Just check it all out!

Darkroom Door

This little robot is gorgeous. He is from a set of stamps by Rachel Grieg from Darkroom Door. The images in this set are divine as they are so finely etched that they are a beautiful set to colour in. I just used my SU markers and then embossed him in clear embossing powder. I tried to make the card look like a very colourful cartoon comic (my hubby said that it looked more ancient Aztec *shrug* whatever that means! lol) The blue card piece is decorated with some of the stamps from the same sets and have been clear embossed. Isn't he cute? I think I shall call him shorty!

**subnote: Aztec were like the ancient egyptians but came from South America...........the colours reminded him of Mexico.**

Turning One

My youngest turned the big 1 on the 8th and for the first time I managed to find time to make a card for her (I still haven't made any cards for my son who is now 2 *blush* got me some catchup to do!)

Isn't it amazing how kids grow up so fast? I seem to blink and they grow - but then on the other hand, some days just go sooooo slooooow. Know what I mean?

Anyway, I did make her a card using the Pretty Princess stamp set from SU. First time I used it and it is a lovely set. My excuse was I bought it for Abby and her little friends she will make in the future. The cardstock is all SU and the ribbon is something I had in my stash. I just coloured the princess in using the watercolour markers and then used lots of crystal effects for dimension. (oh I so love that stuff!). The alphabet stickers are just left over from a birthday project for a friend. You cant see it in the picture but it has a velvet look about it. Oh and I used a purple diamante brad.

Enjoy your day.

8 months of love

Hi All,

well this isn't scrapbooking or cardmaking so if you aren't interested, now is the time to look away :)

My husband has finally finished our son's car bed. It was a labour of love. This also means our 1 year old daughter no longer has to sleep on the floor surrounded by cupboards to keep her on the mattress! LOL No mean feat I can tell you.

But I digress. I just had to pop a photo of the finished product - complete with spinning wheels, opening doors, toy box, and a drawer underneath (well that isn't quite finished so we are calling it a cubby house for now). I am so proud of my man. He isn't a carpenter, in fact, the only time he made something with wood was the cot (which is what our daughter is now sleeping in). Oh, will post pictures of that later. It is divine.

We had a bit of trouble with our son sleeping in it last night but then, he has been a little pain in going to bed at night anyway! Oh boy has he what!

Anyway, if you want more details, email me and I will tell you but didn't want to bore people with it - I just wanted to show how proud I am :)

Till next time, stay safe

x

Gasp! A scrapbook page?

Hi All :)

Hope you are all well and not still recovering from New Years. Ours was a quiet one.....having two littlies tends to restrict your party mojo - just as well we aren't big party goers :)

I just wanted to post a scrapbook page I did about a year ago. This is of my beautiful son having a cuddle with his aunty whilst still in hospital. I have since included a journal entry on the page.

I am not much of a scrapper - I tend to start a page but never finish it as I dont have the confidence. There always seems to be 'something missing'. One day I think I will have to take myself off to some classes.......one day........

Apologies and Baby Shower favors

Well, finally! After a very up and down year (more
down's than up's) I finally get the courage to
post something new on my blog. I would presume most of you would have given up on me which I dont blame you for. Thank you for those that have stuck with me and I promise to be better...lol.

I have so many things to show you - so many things that I have had to do such as baby showers for one thing! And boxing day treats for all of our friends.

But just for now, I will show you some shoes that my mother in law and I spent a few weeks making for my sister in law's baby shower.

First of all, thank you to all of those bloggers that have made these shoes. I must have looked at every single one before attempting these! My mother in law and I were so proud of ourselves when we finished. We actually made 30 of the little sods but ended up needing only 20 shoes. We filled little tulle bags with mini M&M's, and jelly babies. It looks effective as the ties look like shoelaces. I used SU brads for the buttons and embossed every single shoe! Arghhhh. I just think I enjoy making more work for myself. Mind you, saying that, I will never use the Coordination cardstock for this kind of thing again. It is more suited for ripping and distressing than for making things with as it cracked with every fold - even though I made sure I scored every single fold.

I will try and post the baby shower invitations soon. I have to get a hold of a copy from my sister in law - can you believe I didn't even take a photo of them?

Enjoy