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.**