Bugs & Kisses

Today has been a pretty good stamping day. Everyone one has gone out and I am all alone, and as it is the weekend I don't have to worry about housework so I have just been stamping.


This card is for Beate's sketch challenge for this weekend and as I just received these stamps yesterday I just had to play with them! I did resist this set for a long time, but finally seeing all the great cards everyone has created with it I just had to add it to my collection too. This was a fun sketch to do and one I am sure I will be using again some time.

I stamp my grass and then stamped the grasshoppers & ladybugs, and then I used my cloud stencil to create the clouds. The half circle I cut out using my circle scissor and stamped the top part of the verse from the set, I also used my cloud stencil on the white portion of the semi circle as I didn't want it to be too white. I used my tab punch to punch out the tab and stamped the bottom part of the verse and this time seeing it was going to be on the bottom of the card I stamped just a tiny bit of grass at the bottom edge of the tab.

It may be hard to tell by the photo, I used the cheesecloth background to the folded olive card. After attaching the main panel to the folded card I then stamped the ants along the top of the card using black ink. I also added 2 rows of paper piercing along the bottom edge of the card.

Recipe:
Stamps: Bugs & Kisses, Cheesecloth - Stampin' Up; Grass - Hero Arts
Card: Old Olive - Stampin' Up; White; Dark Green
Other: Black Ink; Certainly Celery & Real Red Ink - SU; Dark Green Fluid Chalk; Celeste Blue Impress Ink; Cloud Stencil; Tab Punch - SU; Circle Scissor; Paper Piercing Tool & Guide

CASEing an Idea

While I was blurfing last night I came across a card idea I just knew straight away I would be CASEing today and here are the results. The card I discovered was created by Dawn Griffith of Dawns Stamping Thoughts, you can find her cards here. As you can see I only CASED the idea not the complete card. I decided to use my new Text Box stamps by Papertrey Ink.

To create these cards I cut my A4 card in half so I had two long pieces of card and then folded one of them in half (the other piece makes another card). I decorated the card how I wanted and then I tore a piece out of right side of the card, for this I used my deckle edged ruler which made it a lot easier to tear straight but if you don't have anything like this you could just tear freehand. The far right piece you tore off you keep, but you can throw out the middle piece that originally went between this piece. I then punched out 3 pieces of card using the word window punch and attached these to the card to join the two pieces back together. One thing I did discover while creating these two cards is that it was better to add a tiny piece of double sided tape to the two ends of the word window punched pieces before attaching to your card and then add your brad, this stops the card from swivelling with the brads.
This photo above may give you a better idea of how there is nothing but space between the two pieces of card. The white you can see in all the photos is actually from the inside of the card.

I added a punched out leaf to each of my word window punched piece for the green leaf card. For the red card I stamped out the smaller flower in the Text Box set that matches the flower rectangle panel.

Recipe:
Green Leaf Card: Stamps: Text Box & Paper Tray - Papertrey Ink
Card: Old Olive, Certainly Celery & Chocolate Chip - Stampin' Up; White
Other: Certainly Celery & Chocolate Chip Ink - Stampin' Up; Word Window Punch & Tab Punch - SU; Leaf Punch - Carl; Olive Brads; Deckle Ruler

Red Flower Card: Stamps: Text Box & Paper Tray - Papertrey Ink
Card: Red, Black & White
Other: Real Red Ink - Stampin' Up; Black Ink; Word Window Punch & Tab Punch - SU; Red Brads

Feel Better

This card is for this week limited supply challenge on SCS. The challenge this week was another of those "follow the list" type of challenges, I must admit I like the challenge of having to only use something that is on the list. You don't have to use everything but if it isn't on the list then you can't use it.

Follow the List:
Theme: Get Well
Stamps: No Flowers
Paper:
any solid color
Patterned paper (no flowers)
Ink: any
Tools:
punches (any)
paper piercing tools
sponges
embellishing tools (no flowers)
coloring tools (any)
Embellishments:
hardware
ribbon
primas or silk flowers
punched flowers

As the theme was "Get Well" it wasn't difficult for me to work out what to do, I have a number of different get well themed stamps so it was pretty easy to pick one and use that. I decided to go with this one from alota rubber stamps. The stripes on the background were created using a background stamp from the Behind the Scenes set by My Favorite Stamps - I love this stripe b/g as you most probably have guessed since I have used it a fair bit this week. This particular one is different to the one I have used all week in that it has thicker lines.

Recipe:
Stamps: bugs - alota Rubber Stamps; Behind the Scenes (stripes) - My Favorite Things; Verse - Papertrey Ink
Paper: Sage Shadow, Pumpkin Pie & Summer Sun - SU; Black; White
Other: Black Ink; Sugarloaf Green Whisper Ink; Black Brads; Ticket Corner Punch, Word Window Punch - SU

Flashback Friday - A Little Filing!

It's Friday again so time for another flashback of something I created sometime ago and I have in my files. Today I thought I would share this cute little 3D scene that I created for a friend and myself. We had both purchased this fun file folder set from Victorine Originals which consisted of a file folder, a note & sayings so of course we both challenged each other to come up with something using it. From memory they also included a photocopy pattern to make a single filing cabinet. I used this pattern and made two filing cabinets and joined them together to make the filing cabinet you see here. I used square brads for the handles.

I have a filing cabinet here that looks very similar to this (except mine is 3 drawers), full of card samples I used to use when I taught classes. So when I created this little scene I decided to make it into a stamping scene. Inside the filing cabinet are lots of little files that I stamped and cut out from a manilla folder, I then named each of the folder to hold various stamping related things:

• Stencils - I used punches to punch out pieces of card.
• Catalog - I created a tiny little catalog using tiny stamps for the inside (this was to duplicate a catalog I keep of stamps I own) I also did another where I scanned real catalog covers and reduced them for another folder.
• Magazines - I scanned some magazine covers and reduced them to put inside one folder
• Card Techniques - I used real patterns or instructions and reduced the size before printing them out.
• Ink Pad Color Chart - I even reduced an ink pad color chart I keep and made a mini one.
• Card Samples - I created 2 folders one with my name on it and one with my friends - I then printed out tiny samples of cards we had both created and I had on the computer and put them in the folders.
• Address List - I also printed out an address list of a club I belong to for another folder.
• Wish List - This is the file the girl is holding and has her head in (hmmm I guess a bit like many of you with the SU catty at present LOL) - inside the folder are a few sheets of paper with rows of the word stamps typed on it!

The filing cabinet is attached to a piece of thick card that was covered with a woodgrain cardboard. The girl is called Peeking Betty and actually has part of her hat cut off so she can peek in some unusual places (more on her another time) I stamped her twice (once using mirror image stamp and glued the top part of her together and then placed a piece of card that is folded in a triangle at the bottom portion to allow her to stand - this was then attached to the board.

The cat is a back to front stamp by Art Impressions - you get both the front and back image - to allow this to stand I sandwiched foam core board between each piece.

To finish off the piece I added stamps & embossing powder, a clock and markers to the top of the filing cabinet, these are parts of stamps I own that I stamped and used for this project again using foam core to give them substance. Again I reduced a card I made and placed this one my filing cabinet, this particular card I chose had special meaning to myself and my friend (Susan) who was the recipient of this and the stamp used to create that card on the cabinet was one called Susan, Frances & Helene.

It was lots of fun featuring this particular project for my flashback friday this week, I have this sitting on one of my shelves where I stamp and although I see it everyday I haven't actually looked at it in depth for a long time. I had forgotten what I had actually put inside the filing cabinet until I pulled it off the shelf just now to describe it to you all.

Recipe:
Stamps: File Folder Set - Victorine Originals; Peek a boo Betty - Annaleey Crafts (Australia); Clock - Darcie; Cat - Art Impressions; Rug - Ann-ticipations; Stamping Accessories - Raindrops on Roses

Woof!

Woof! that means hello (I think anyway). I didn't have much time today for stamping as I have been busy doing boring stuff like grocery shopping and trying to find new homes for stuff I had to take out of the cupboard my DH demolished yesterday - arghhhhhhh!!! Thousands of photo albums from years past, yeah ok maybe not thousands but when they are all over the floor and you are trying to find new homes for them it feels that way believe me. Anyway most of it is now done, still have some things to go through and I now have a couple of piles for my two daughters, nothing like getting rid of the stuff and giving it to them - it is about them so why not.

Well once I had finished with the boring stuff I decided I wanted to make a card. This is another for Julee's Blogger Bingo on Poetic Artistry - she draws out an addition number for each card someone makes based on one of the cards on her blog. Yesterday I created a card using her weekly sketch card, so today I thought I would use another sample on her blog. This one is based on a CPS sketch #18 I think. I liked how Julee had taken the circle out of the centre of her background paper before attaching it to her main card so I knew I wanted to copy that part of the card. Instead of a stamped greeting I decided to use one of the little bone brads I purchased on Tuesday while shopping with a friend - they have woof on them and I thought that would be perfect for this card.

Recipe:
Stamps: Dog - MissyB Designs
Paper: Not Quite Navy & Close to Cocoa - Stampin' Up; White; Floral Crochet-Blue - Sandy Lion
Other: Black Ink; Prussian Blue Fluid Chalk; Scallop Circle Punch; Square Punch; Circle Scissor; Bone Brad;

Pamper Yourself

It has been a little hectic around here as DH came home from work early today and ripped out my owl cupboard and put in the new stamping cupboard he has been working on in his workshop for the past few days. At present it doesn't have the doors, but he will make them soon at least it is now ready to start loading up with stuff. I just need to decide what to put in there. It seems the dolls house has now had a reprieve for now as we feel it will crowd the room too much what we had originally planned to do.

Anyway in between all that commotion I have managed to get my card made for this weeks sketch challenge. To use the image I wanted to use on my card I had to turn the sketch on its side and flip it.

I stamped the bath scene onto white card and then masked the bath, floor & mirror so I could stamp my strip background (I can't stop using that background stamp at present). It is a little tricky to line up but I think I did okay with it.

Recipe:
Stamps: Time for Bubbly & Behind the Scenes - My Favorite Things; Weave B/G - Cornish Heritage Farms
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Rose Red - Stampin' Up; White; Pale Pink
Other: Black Ink; Chestnut Roan Fluid Chalk; Word Window Punch - SU; Brads; perfume bottle button

Coffee & Friends

I have been having fun playing blogger's bingo at Julee's Poetic Artistry blog. Each week Julee also issues a new sketch challenge for those of us that want to play along. I didn't get round to doing last weeks sketch as much as I wanted to, hopefully I might find time this week to do something with it. So I was determined to make sure I played in this weeks sketch challenge.

As I received this new set in the mail Monday from My Favorite Things I decided to have a play with it for the challenge. I stamped the main image onto white card and then masked all but the dress portion so I could stamp the dots onto the dress as I had decided I wanted a pink & brown theme - I thought it would go well with the coffee theme. I then punched the image out using my scallop punch and then layered this onto a chocolate chip and creamy caramel circles cut out using my circle scissors.

For the top portion of the card I used the stripe background which I have played with a lot this week stamping it with coffee bean brilliance ink (I thought that was an apt choice LOL); The bottom section I used my tiny bubbles cuttlebug embossing folder and then sponged this using the same ink, I thought this might give it a coffee bean look. I Added a strip of chocolate chip card to hide the join and then stamped the faux ribbon onto white card using coffee bean ink and colored the ribbon in the same color as I did the dress. The greeting I stamped in sections so that it would fit within the oval I wanted to use and layered this onto choc chip card and used my scallop scissors to trim around the edge.

Recipe: Stamps: Hot Stuff, Behind the Scenes, Setting the Stage - My Favorite Things Stamps
Paper: Chocolate Chip; Creamy Caramel & Regal Rose - Stampin' Up; White
Other: Black Ink; Coffee Bean Brilliance Ink; Scallop Punch; Oval Punch; Scallop Scissors; Circle Scissor; Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

The Price of Change!

Over the next couple of months my husband plans to make a number of improvements to my stamping area. The first part of this process will be building me some new cupboards to help solve the problem on where to store my ever growing stamping supplies. This will be a good thing! However these improvements come at a price, and I am not talking about the cost of the materials to make the cupboards, having a DH who can make these means the price isn't too much of an issue. I have also begun buying plastic storage boxes so that everything stays neat and I have asked for pull out shelves so I can easier access everything that it stored in there - no more hidden things in that back corner. The price I am referring to is that to have these cupboards I am going to have to lose some other things in the process.

The first thing I will be losing is my owl cupboard (pictured above), its not the greatest photo but it was the best I could get as I had to take it at an angle. All my owls from this cupboard have now been removed and are ready to be stored for a while in a large plastic storage container so they don't get ruined. This container will have to go down to the back shed while everything is happening. I have been promised that I will get built a corner unit elsewhere in the house which should store most if not all of them - so I guess that isn't tooo bad. But it sure feels strange not being able to look over at that corner of the room and seeing my owls.

The other thing that will need to go to make room for these improvements is this dolls house & the cupboard underneath. My dh plans to build me a double sided cupboard with bookcase on the reverse side for my mags etc. My mother purchased this some years ago decorated most of it and it got too much for her so she offered it to me. It was much bigger than I thought it was and my DH had to build the cupboards that it is sitting on now as there was nowhere it would fit. The problem with this dolls house is that to get inside the house you need to go to the back of the doll house, the front doesn't open so it needs an area where you can get to both sides - there is nowhere else it can go. But guess it is going to have to go, I am a little sad about this as even though I don't give it the attention it deserves I do like the look of it, but again being able to access my things easier will be great.

The cupboard that is replacing my owl cupboard is just about ready to be installed, then comes the big job of working out what I am going to store in there.

I'll be sure to share some pics when the new improvements are finished!

Guest Book

I just added a guestbook to my blog, if you would like to sign it please scroll down to the bottom of my blog and you will find it there.

If you haven't visited my blog recently (ie reading it through a reader) I also added a cute owl yesterday I found online which I just could not resist adding especially with a name like mine!

Thanks everyone who takes the time to read my blog, I do appreciate it. According to my counter it will be time soon for more blog candy - I think we will need some for 25k's! I will figure out what the prize will be and what you will need to do shortly and post it here.

Have a Ball!

Have a ball, a basketball that is! Last week when I was playing around with circle cards for Beate's sketch challenge etc, I had the idea of making a basketball card but at the time I didn't get round to it as I had other things that needed being made first. I don't really have any need for a basketball card, as I don't know of anyone who plays the game but I figured it would be fun to make anyway so I did.

To create this I started by folding my black card (the base) in half and placing my circle template onto the folded card so that part of the circle wouldn't be cut. To cut it I used my creative memories circle cutter, I have tried many circle cutter and this is one of the ones I like the best - esp if you want your circle in a specific spot. I cut the circle at 4 1/4 inches. I then cut the pumpkin colored card at 4 inches, drew on my lines using a black marker to make it look like a basketball and then used my tiny bubbles cuttlebug embossing folder to get that basketball texture on it. The little bug playing basketball is one by alota rubberstamps which I decided would be good for this card and of course the verse was created using snap stamps, I had planned on using another verse but decided that was too big.

Recipe: Stamps: alota rubberstamps; verse - Karen Foster Snap Stamps
Paper: Pumpkin - Stampin' Up; Black; White
Other: Black Ink; Deckle scissors; Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Black Marker

Marathon Mania is coming to Brisbane!

Every year the members of Southside Stampers Inc (Formerly Stamperholics Unanimous), Brisbane put on a Scrapping, Stamping and Papercrafts Marathon to help fund raise for a worthy cause. The particular cause changes each year and this year all proceeds will go to Australian Leukodystrophy Support Group. This will enable the group to purchase wheel chairs and other vital equipment to support children with Leukodystrophy. For more info on Leukodystrophy see http://www.alds.org.au/

I am including the main details here for anyone who is able to attend. This year the organisers have also have a blog which you may wish to add to your reader of choice so you can keep abreast of anything new that is happening. It looks like it will be a great day again as usual - so if you live anywhere near Brisbane mark the date on your calendar.

Here is the link to their blog: Marathon Mania

Marathon Details

WHO Southside Stampers Inc (Formerly Stamperholics Unanimous), Brisbane

DATE July 21st, 2007

TIME 8am to 8pm

VENUE White's Hill State College
Community Hall
Samuel St
Camp Hill (Brisbane)

ENTRY $8.00
This includes a coffee and cake

FEATURING Vendors as listed below, make & take's, 30 minute workshops, 1 hour workshops, card making kits, demo's,lucky door prizes, 2 mega raffles (worth $400.00 each), silent auction, pre-loved stall, fantastic food & Bomber’s BBQ.

TABLES There will be a huge work area with tables and chairs so you can come and create for thewhole 12 hours if you wish.

WHY We aim to raise funds for the Australian Leukodystrophy Support Group. This will enable the group to purchase wheel chairs and other vital equipment to support children with Leukodystrophy. For more info on Leukodystrophy see http://www.alds.org.au/

Cami-licious Flowers

It's featured stamper time again, boy does the weeks go fast especially if you are following all the challenges on SCS. This week there is yet another great gallery of cards to drool over and this week the gallery & featured stamper is Cambria Turnbow. There are many cards in Cambria's gallery I would love to case if I had the time but the one I chose to case is a particular favorite of mine and one I have wanted to case ever since she first posted it to her gallery way back in January, of course back then I didn't even own the stamps so couldn't case it and since then there have been other things to keep me from going back and doing so. You can find Cambria's card here.

Normally when I participate in the featured stamper challenge the first thing I do is change the colors as that is one of the easier things to do, but part of what I loved about Cambria's card was the color so I decided to keep the red flowers etc. These are the changes I made:

• Used stripes for the bottom layer rather than polka dots
• Changed my verse
• Added piercing to the top right hand corner
• Changed the black strip to a scallop border
• Added red ribbon along the scallop border
• Added a few more flowers at the top of the card & the right hand side

I hadn't intended to add the extra flowers but when I stamped my verse I stamped it to far down for my liking, adding the extra flower at the top made it look better.

Recipe:
Stamps: Polka Dots & Paisley & Little by Little - Stampin' Up; Behind the Scenes - My Favorite Things
Paper: Red, Black & White
Other: Black Ink; Marvy Brush Markers # 2 & 96; Slot Punch - Stampin' Up; Red Grosgrain Ribbon; Paper Piercing tool & guide.

Another Piece of the Puzzle!

These two cards were created for a book club I belong to, where we are given a theme and then we need to create a piece to go into the book and the book finally goes home to the owner. For the top card, the theme was using puzzle pieces, I purchased some giant kids puzzle pieces a few years back at a flea market so this was the ideal time to use one of the pieces. First up I applied versamark ink to the puzzle piece and covered it completely with Mountain Berry Opals Embossing Powder. I applied two layers of this color and then I drizzled on a Purple Mineral Magic Melt and some Valentine & Aurora Opals - all these are various brands of Thick Embossing Powder. It has been a while since I have played with thicking embossing powder so this was fun.

After the utee had cooled I decided to wrap some tiny beads around the piece for decoration. It took a while to decide what to do with it after that, my first attempts were pretty lame so eventually I came up with this card. As you can see I am still playing with those flourish stamps - they are soooo versitile and make a good background for this card, it was a white card but I sponged some pink ink over it. I guess this card is also based on Beate's sketch for this weekend.
Working out what verse to use on this card took some thinking, I wanted something related to either puzzle or jigsaw, but many seemed to mushy so came up with this one. I think it is appropriate and it will be the 3rd card in a book of 4 using puzzles.
The theme for this second card was to use a domino piece on your card, the tiny domino piece was included with the book. It is a little hard to see here but if you look at the eiffel tower you may see it. For this one I used the dtp technique to color my card using bisque, amber clay & olive pastel fluid chalk inkpads. I then stamped my image over the top of this using black ink. After sanding my domino I applied these inks to my domino piece - heat setting between layers, chalk inks are permanent on dominoes as long as you heat set. Once I had my color I turned my stamp so the image was facing me and placed my domino onto the area that I wanted to appear on my piece. This is the easiest way to get good placement for some items like dominoes. I used black brilliance to stamp onto the domino and heat set that too, and then attached it over the main image, a little like when you are doing the spotlight technique.

Recipes: Puzzle Card: Stamps: Flourish - Autumn Leaves; Verse - Karen Foster Snap Stamps
Paper: Rose Red - Stampin' Up; White
Other: Black Ink; Maroon & Pink Pastel Fluid Chalks; Puzzle Piece; Tiny Beads; Thread; Mountain Berry, Valentine & Aurora Opals; Purple Mineral Magic Melts; Paper Piercing Tool & Mat.

Domino Card: Stamps: Stylish Images (Aust)
Paper: White; Black; Tobacco Prisma Card
Other: Black Ink; Bisque, Amber Clay & Olive Pastel Fluid Chalks; Domino; Gold Eyelets

Beate's Sketch #7

I had intended to stay home all day yesterday and get lots of stamping done, but my DH decided he wanted to go down the coast shopping and as my DD was also heading in a similar direction we all decided to go together. We ended being out a lot longer than was originally planned but some of that was my fault, as while we were there someone reminded me of a scrapbooking shop nearby which my DH kindly took me too. I am not a scrapbooker but my DD who was with us is and I don't mind looking in scrapbook stores as they are a good source for background papers, embellishments and tools etc. While I was in the store I found a set of flower stamps - Carolee's Creations by Adorn It which of course I decided to buy.

The card above is what I made when I came home and is for Beate's weekend sketch, originally when I saw the sketch and prior to going shopping I had planned on combining it with the limited supply challenge which is using neglected stamps - but my new flower set had other ideas!

Recipe:
Stamps: Flower - Carolee's Creations Adorn It; Verse - Papertrey Ink
Papers: Au Chocolat; Chocolate Chip; Rose Red - Stampin' Up; White
Other: Black Ink; Dark Brown Fluid Chalk; Paper Piercing Tool & Mat; Trias

ATC - Blue Flourish

These atc's are for another atc swap I am in, this one is for a Rainbow Color atc Swap. There are 9 people in the swap and everyone is given a color - White; Red; Orange; Yellow; Green; Blue: Indigo; Violet; Rainbow. I know white isn't really part of the rainbow but it was added to get the 9 participants so that there all fit in one of those 9 pocket plastic sleeves. Of course the color I chose was Blue - it is my favorite color!
It took me a little while to work out what I was going to do for this particular swap, blue isn't a hard color to do but I have done a few blue atc's in the past one being the rubber cement atc for the atc technique swap I am hosting.

Anyway I finally decided to go with my flourish stamps from Autumn Leaves, I do like them and yes I will be ordering that Baroque Motif set when the new catty comes out - which is now only a week away - yah!!!!! I started by sponging my card with weathered wood distress ink and then sponging the edges only with faded jeans distress ink. Next I stamp the flourish stamp around the bottom and left side of the card. I used my cricut with the mini monograms cartridge to create my scallop pieces - the white at 1 1/4 inches real size off & then the blue at 1 1/2 inches real size off. I then stamped my medallion image onto the white scallop circle & sponged it with weathered wood ink. Layered the scallop pieces together & attach the blue brad through the middle and attached to card. "Hope Dream Imagine" was then stamped in the top right hand corner using black ink. And finally layered onto blue card.

I love that using the cricut I can cut my scallop circles any size I want and have as many layers that I want. Play around with real size on & off and also shadow and shadow blackout - doing this can give you slightly different sizes and even the shape of the scallop itself.

Recipe: Stamps: Flourish - Autumn Leaves; Medallion - Studio Astarte; Verse - Stamp It (Aust)
Paper: White; Royal Blue
Other: Weathered Wood & Faded Jeans Distress Ink; Blue Iris Fluid Chalk; Black Ink; Mini Monogram Cricut Cartridge; Blue Brad

Flashback Friday - The Owl & The Pussycat

In case you don't know I enjoy collect owls, that is why my "online" name is StampOwl as I decided to combine the two things I enjoy doing - Stamping + Owl collecting. I began collecting owls many years ago when I was a Brownie Leader and a Penpal I wrote to overseas wrote to tell me about how she loved collecting owl things which kind of got me into it. My house has owls of all sorts all over the place, stuffed, ornaments, jewelry etc.

About 4 years ago I decided to create this card to send to another friend that I do a regular monthly swap with. Being that it was owl orientated I had to make 2 one formy friend & one for me, it is a card I still enjoy looking at. The reason for the card was that my friend and I had challenged each other to come up with cards using the umbrella stamp by Stampourri. Of course we both did normal stuff with it but we both also like to do some things out of the box so I came up with using it as a boat and of course then the "Owl & The Pussycat" idea came into being.

The umbrella is actually a 3D style stamp created by Stampourri, 3D stamps can be lots of fun and there are many around if you look for them. The bottom portion of the umbrella was stamped onto the main card first and masked so I could stamp my clouds and sponge the sky. I could then attach the 3D part of the umbrella. The waves were created by stamping them on a separate piece of card with lots of masking and then trimming around the top wave and this was positioned onto the card so that I could place the boat under the waves.
The cat & the owl were stamped on separate card, cut out and attached into the umbrella/boat using foam tape so they stood out a little from the base card. The verse was created on the computer.

Recipe:
Stamps: Umbrella - Stampourri; Waves - Darcies; Cat - Sonlight Stamps; Owl - Westwater Enterprises; Clouds - Art Impressions
Paper: White; Lime Green; Cobalt
Other: Black Ink; Foam Tape.

Another Little Lady

This card I made sometime ago when I first received my little lady stamp set from Papertrey Ink. I couldn't post it to my blog as I had made this one for a friends birthday and I didn't want her to see it until she actually received it in her hands. Well I received an email yesterday to say she has received it so I can now post it.

The star portion of this card is created the same way I made the teabag folded card that I posted in May using the octagonal template I got from Planet punch. Rather than using a punch to punch out each triangle piece that I did in my previous card I decided to stamp each triangle with a flower image using black ink.

Recipe: Stamps: Little Lady - Papertrey Ink
Paper: Red, Black & White
Other: Black Ink; Octagonal Planet Punch template

Butterfly

Well after a bad start this afternoon I did manage to get my inspiration back and come up with a second card for this weeks sketch challenge.

This one uses some paper I picked up really cheap a couple of weeks ago. I stamped the butterfly using burnt sienna fluid chalk onto so saffron card and then punched that out using my scallop punch and then layered it onto the black and caramel card. I also used my textile cuttlebug embossing folder to get some texture on the so saffron strip and then sponged over some burnt sienna ink to bring out the texture, I then tied 3 pieces of black cord at the top right hand side of the strip. I attached 3 black brads to the lower left hand corner.

Recipe:
Stamps: Paperbag Studio
Paper: So Saffron - Stampin' Up; Caramel; Black; Fortune Teller Stripe - Daisy Ds Papers
Other: Burnt Sienna Fluid Chalk; Black Button Brads; Black Cord

Flower Chick

This afternoon was one of those times when everything I tried just didn't look right, boy can it be frustrating!!!! I was trying to create my card for this weeks sketch challenge, now it looks a simple enough sketch doesn't it so why it wasn't working for me I don't know. At the moment the family are keeping well clear LOL. Anyway I am a little happier now, this isn't perfect but it looks ok so I am leaving it while the going is good.

The little chick is a stamp I received from my VSN secret sister, I have always wanted one of these cute little characters so I was happy when I opened my parcel and found it in there. I used my cricut to create the scallop circles - in case anyone is interested I cut the white at 2 1/12 inches real size off; the pink at 2 1/2 inches real size on and then the black at 3 inches real size off - this was you can achieve the variations in size without having to jump from 2 1/2 inches to 3 inches in one layer.

Recipe:
Stamps: Flower Chick - Stampendous; Polka Dots & Paisley - Stampin' Up
Paper: Pink Passion - Stampin' Up; White; Black
Other: Black Ink; Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Black Grosgrain Ribbon; Foam Tape

Spit Happens CC119

I created this card for this weeks color challenge which is to use Real Red; Barely Banana & Creamy Caramel. Fortunately I just received my Real Red ink pad & card from my SU demo yesterday which made it easier to make the card, although if I hadn't had that particular red I would have used one similar - but as I had the real thing I might as well use it. The sketch I used here is the same as the one I did a few days ago for this card Sage Happy Harmony, which is recipe 37 in the Joy of Card Making vol 2. If you haven't seen these magazines they are a valuable resource full of all types of sketches.

Recipe:
Stamps: Rabbit - Stampabilities; Paint Splatter - Printworks; Greeting - Karen Foster Snap Stamps
Paper: Real Red; Creamy Caramel & Barely Banana - Stampin' Up; White
Other: Black Ink; Real Red Ink - SU; Ticket Corner Punch; Word Window Punch & Oval Punch - SU; Spots & Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Red Gingham Ribbon; Copper Fastenator Staple

Make & Take

As I mentioned in an earlier post today, I went to a friends place to attend a Stampin' Up party. This is the card we all made for the make & take. And guess what I thought I had finished using Sage Shadow for a little while and what color were we all given to make this card - sage shadow LOL - oh well - I don't mind cause I do like this color. The different colored shadows on the top section of the card were created by using the stampin' spots directly onto the card, we then stamped the flowers on top of the shadows using black ink. Punched two holes into one flower and threaded the cord through to tie off. This was another quick and easy card to make and I guess would have qualified for the technique challenge today - but I didn't cheat and made the ladybug card when I got home.

For the party today I had to go interstate hehehe, as my friend having the party lives around the Tweed Heads area in NSW and I live in Queensland - it only about an hour drive, not tooo long a journey. It was pretty easy for me as I didn't have to drive, another friend Trish who had to go to the party as she was the demo for this party and who lives fairly close to me did the driving, I was supposedly the navigator. Not sure that I did too much navigating though. we kind of found the place by accident as we noticed a road we weren't really even looking for at the time but had seen we needed to get to when reading the directions earlier.

Recipe: Stamps: Pretty Princess - Stampin' Up
Paper: Sage Shadow; White - Stampin' Up
Other: Barely Banana; Lavender Lace; Sage Shadow; Bashful Blue; Pretty In Pink & Black Ink - SU; Silver Cord

A Real Red Lady

This weeks technique challenge is Speedy cards, that is ones that can either be made in bulk or in about 5 to 10 minutes. As I received my real red ink pad and card from my SU demo friend today I thought I would see how my ladybug stamp looked using that - and I have to say I love the look of the ink pad - so I am happy to get this one.

This card was very easy & quick to make - the scallop circles were cut using my mini monograms cricut cartridge - cut at 3 inches with real size off for the white one and then 3 inches with real size on for the black. I think it is hard to tell by the photo but I have also punch out a small hole around each scallop on the black layer.

Recipe:
Stamps: Little Lady - Papertrey Ink
Paper: Real Red - Stampin' Up; White; Black
Other: Real Red Ink - Stampin' Up; Black Ink; Mini Monogram Cricut Cartridge, small hole punch

Tagged!

Hi again,

I was tagged again last week and I forgot all about it and didn't post here about it and I should have especially since the person who tagged me is new to blogging. The person who tagged me this time was Jimmi from Stampin' and Shoppin'. Jimmi has only been blogging for a couple of weeks so head on over and check it out.

This particular tagging game is one I have already done on my blog so I won't bore you with doing it again. But I did want to thank Jimmi for tagging me!

Sage Happy Harmony

Here is another card I created on Sunday, as you can see I still had my Happy Harmony set out and also the papers from when I was creating my circle card. I am also sooo happy at how well the Whispers Sugarloaf Green ink pad matches the sage card, as I don't have the SU version of the ink pad yet and as I have sooooo many I need to buy I can put that one down near the bottom of my wish list. Hope you aren't tooo sick of this combo, I will try and play with some other stamps and colors for a little while now.

I didn't have the right color ribbon I wanted for this one so I had to use my green inkpad that I used to stamp the flowers and the background to color the ribbon. Unfortunately I didn't have this color in my tria markers which I will have to correct next time I got to the art shop.

Recipe:
Stamps: Happy Harmony - Stampin' Up; Rice Paper B/G - Cornish Heritage Farms
Paper: Shadow Sage - Stampin' Up; Phoebe DP - Basic Gray; White; Black
Other: Black Ink; Sugarloaf Green Whispers Ink; Olive Brads; White Grosgrain Ribbon; Ticket Corner Punch - SU

This morning I am off to a Stampin' Up party held by a friend of mine who lives just across the border in NSW. It should be fun, not sure if we are doing a make and take I should have asked my friend who is also the demo. She is driving as she lives near me, I just need to navigate & keep her company!

Oh in case you haven't noticed I have added new clocks to the side of my blog! I discovered that besides having one with local time I could also have other clocks for different areas - I thought this would help me when I am trying to work out what time it is in various places in the USA for events held on SCS etc - I also added London for good measure as I have a friend in England. If you want to see the clocks scroll all the way to the right - you will only see one clock straight off - the one with Brisbane time. Use the scroll button at the side of the clocks to see the others!

Pure - Genius

No not my card it isn't anything spectacular LOL. I am referring to this weeks featured stamper on SCS. The featured stamper is posted on SCS on a Sunday and as this weeks featured stamper challenge also fell on Fathers Day (in the US etc) then it was fitting that the featured stamper be Greg aka Pure-Genius on SCS. I decided to CASE Greg's "Hello" card, I liked its simplicity. I had some of the background paper left over from the Circle card I made on the weekend and also another card which I will post tomorrow so I thought I would continue using those colors. I do love this background paper with the Shadow Sage card.

For my CASE I changed the colors, and the verse and also added a prima flower to my card. This was a really quick card to make which is just as well as I should be doing housework not stamping today.

Recipe:
Stamps: Natural Beauty - Stampin' Up
Paper: Shadow Sage - Stampin' Up; Phoebe DP - Basic Gray; White; Black
Other: Black Ink; Black Gingham Ribbon; Prima Flower; Olive Brad

Still doing Circles!

After doing my circle card I created for Beate's weekend sketch challenge yesterday, I got to thinking about other things I could create with circles. I have seen a few ladybugs cards using this idea floating around on SCS and maybe even other places as well, so I decided I would give it a try too.

This is how I created my ladybug:
1 x 4 inch red circle
2 x 4 inch black circles
2 x 2 1/4 inch black circles
1 x 3 1/2 inch white circle
1 x 1/4 inch strip of black card

I attached one of the 2 inch black circles to the back of one of the 4 inch black circles. I then took the 1/4 inch strip of black card, bent it into a "V" shape and attach it to the back of the "head", trimming it as desired. Attach the second 2 inch black circle so the antenna are sandwiched between the 2 head pieces.

Layer the white circle over the front of the black circle body and decorate how you wish.

Cut the red circle in half and decorate as desired - I used a circle shape from Papertrey's "Butterfly Wishes" set. I also sponged around the edges of the red with black ink. Position the wings onto the body and use a black brad on either wing to attach to the body. I attached my brads through the centre of one of the circles I stamped on each wing.

This was pretty easy to do and you just spread the ladybugs wings to reveal the message.
Recipe:
Stamps: Butterfly Wishes, Little Lady & Faux Ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Verse - Darcies
Paper: Red; White & Black
Other: Creative Memories Cutting System; Black Ink;Lipstick Red Fluid Chalk; Black Brads

Going Round in Circles!

Beate has another weekend sketch challenge on her blog and this week the sketch is to create a circle card. I have wanted to create a circle card for soooo long now but kept putting it off for one reason or another. This is why I love challenges they sometimes make you do things you have wanted to do and haven't gotten around to doing and other times you get to try something new - either way to my mind challenges are good and lots of fun! Thanks Beate for for making me finally get around to creating one it was fun to do.

For this card I chose my background paper first - I got this one last week at the papercrafts expo and wanted to use it, so I attached this to my card and then used my Creative Memories circle cutter to cut out the circle. I then decided to go with the shadow sage card from SU as it seemed to go well with the background paper. I also added the scallop piece to my sage card before attaching this to the circle card.

The scallop circles were made using my cricut. The smallest circle is cut at 2.5 inches with real size off, the sage is cut at 2.5inches with real size on and then finally another white scallop circle was cut at 3 inches real size off. This was kind of an accident using the 3 scallop shapes - I had cut a few different scallop shapes in the above sizes trying to get the look I wanted - I finally settled on the white & sage cut at 2.5inches and layered them together and punched the holes around the sage scallops - I had the others I had cut also on my desk and it landed on top of the larger white one - I liked how the white showed through the holes and around the edge and it also helped make it stand out a little better from the background.

I felt it still needed something so I added the prima flowers and word window punched verse.

Recipe:
Stamps: Happy Harmony - Stampin' Up; Greetings - Papertrey Ink
Paper: Shadow Sage - Stampin' Up; White; Pheobe - Basic Grey
Other: Black Ink; Sugarloaf Green Whisper Ink; Olive & Green Brads; Prima Flowers; Mini Monograms Cricut Cartridge; Word Window Punch - Stampin' Up; Cloud Scissors - Fiskars; Creative Memories Circle Cutter

Patriotic Cards

1. This weeks limited supply challenge is to make Patriotic cards. We had 2 options.

Option 1 was to use patriotic colors to make a patriotic themed card but not to use
traditional patriotic stamps.

Option 2 was to use patriotic colors and any images but it can't be a patriotic card.

2. I needed to make a card or actually a card front for a book club I belong to - the theme was "Ideas for the Little Ones" in other words a kids card.

3. I decided to go with "option 2" to make use patriotic colors and any image but it wasn't a
patriotic card.

4. I wanted to combine the limited supply challenge and make a kids card for #2 above. I also liked the idea of making a card in the colors red, white and blue.

5. I live in Australia - although our flag are the colors of red white & blue these aren't the colors we would consider "Australian colors"

6. Australian colors are - Green & Gold

7. While I was making my pirate card for this challenge, my daughter asked me what I was doing and I explained the limited supply challenge and what the theme was for this week. My daughter said "those aren't Australian colors!" I knew that, but I wanted to use them making a green & gold card wasn't as big of a challenge.

8. To keep everyone happy I decided to make 2 cards for this challenge - my 2nd one is in Australian Colors - Green & Gold.

9. I decided to use my new chicken stamp I got last week as a chicken can be yellow (gold).

10. This chicken for some reason reminds me of my friend on SCS Cindy aka Mothermark. Cindy would normally describe her cards in this fashion and for this particular challenge I decided to too. I am sure Cindy won't mind for one time LOL.

11. I took the card in to show my daughter when I had finished, she said "It's Green & Gold!"


Recipes:

Ahoy Matey:
Stamps: Ahoy Matey & Matey's Map - Stampin' Up
Papers: Red; White; Blue & Black
Other: Black Ink; White Brilliance Ink; Bisque Fluid Chalk

Hi Chick:
Stamps: Chicken - Inky Antics; Chicken Wire - Unknown; Dirt - SU; Greeting - Karen Foster Snap Stamps
Papers: Marigold Morning & Certainly Celery - Stampin' Up; White
Other: Black Ink; Amber Clay Fluid Chalk; Circle Scallop Punch; Word Window Punch - SU; Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Tobacco Brads

Flourish Medallion

Isn't it funny how some of our cards we create come into being! I hadn't intended to make another card just yet using my flourish stamps or the flower I used in yesterdays card or for that matter even the sketch challenge for this week. However I did have an extra daisy flower cut out from the card I created yesterday (see previous post) and also sitting on my desk was the little medallion I had punched out using my new stair step punch I purchased at the papercrafts expo last week. I had been wanting to make a card using a medallion but not necessarily using the one I punched out to try out my punch and this technique. As I said all these were sitting on my desk and I was just sitting here waiting for the SCS gallery to work and I picked them all up and and placed them on top of each other and they landed on a card I had sitting on my desk that had the layering portion of it in squares, different colors to what the flower and medallion were but I could see what it would look like if I did a similar thing using the correct colors for these two items. I then decided well a square card would be good and decided to go with the sketch challenge again and using my flourish stamps on two of the panels. I also ended up using my weave background stamp on the white panels for this card, I am not sure why but all 3 cards I have created so far with this sketch has had this stamp used on them - I guess I like it - huh!
The medallion portion of this card was created using my stairstep corner punch, this isn't my original idea it has been doing the rounds of many blogs and some of you may have seen it but just in case some haven't I thought I would explain it. My punch is by EK success but I believe Stampin' Up also sell one.

1. I started with a 6cm square piece of card and used my corner punch to punch each of the four corners. (2 1/4 inches for those using imperial measurements)

2. Bend each corner forward, you can place a little tape to keep these flat if you wish. I suggest you place the tape on the main part of the card not the corners as it might show on other side - don't ask me how I know LOL)

3. Turn medallion over, you are now ready to attach your image (in my case the flowers) to it and assemble card.

Recipe:
Stamps: Looks like Spring - Stampin' Up; Elegant Flourish - Autumn Leaves; Weave B/G - Cornish Heritage Farms
Paper: White; Black; Maroon
Other: Black Ink; Maroon Fluid Chalk; Stair Step Corner Punch - EK Success; Flower Punch - SU; Pink Gem Brad; Foam Tape

Get Well Flourish

I just love the flourish stamps that are so popular at the moment, so of course when the "Ways to use it" challenge was posted this week and the challenge was for us to use these stamps to make a card I just had to play. I also needed to make a card to send to a friend who has been in hospital this week so I decided to combine the two as I am pretty sure she will enjoy the flourishes.

It's hard to tell by this photo but the brad that is holding the flowers onto the card actually has a pink gem on the top of it, I picked these up from a cheap shop recently and I thought it would be perfect for the flowers. I might need to go back and see if I can get a couple of more packets of these just in case they stop selling them, I can never have tooooo many brads!
Recipe:
Stamps: Looks Like Spring - Stampin' Up; Elegant Flourish - Autumn Leaves; Verse - Papertrey Ink
Paper: White; Maroon
Other: Maroon Fluid Chalk; Oval Punch - Stampin' Up; Scallop Scissors; Gem Brad


More info on Bookmark cards:
I had a question about the magnets I used on my magnet cards I posted the other day. Most magnets worked when just used on the bookmark itself and would for the purpose of using it as a bookmark. We did have trouble finding a magnet that worked when having to hold through many layers of card - so if you do make this card less is best! I tried 3 different forms of magnets before I found one that worked, the 1st was an A4 magnet sheet I have had here for years - it didn't want to work through the layers, although someone said it didn't work at first and then it did - so who knows - it didn't work on mine. The 2 I tried was the magnet tape - definitely not strong enough for this card. And finally some fridge magnets - the type that just have printing on them and you stick them to the fridge . I cut one of them up and attached it to the base of my bookmark and finally it was completed. I suggest if you are trying to make these you experiment with what magnets you have available, don't buy lots till you know it works. Oh you only need a small amount of magnet at the base of the bookmark not all the way up. I hope that helps answer some questions.

Flashback Friday - Picnic Basket

Winter has arrived! Earlier in the month I did say that it was still nice and warm down here in Australia not like winter at all, well this past week winter has begun to make its presence felt! It started with cold winds which hung around the weekend while my DH was trying to put up our new fence - not pleasant having to work in that all day. Fortunately the wind has gone but the cold is staying!

I know from posts on SCS that summer holidays are about to begin in the States. To help me forget about winter and celebrate the coming of summer in the Northern Hemisphere I thought I would share with you this Friday my picnic basket scene I created a few years back. I am sure that many of you will be enjoying picnic during the coming months. The picnic basket stamp is from Museum of Modern Rubber, not long after I ordered this stamp and a few others this company closed their doors which is a shame as there were a few more I would have like to have gotten eventually - but guess that is not to be. The picnic basket came with the lemonade glass, thermos, chicken drum, watermelon & verse plus a few other things I didn't use here. The pizza stamp is a ring in I added to help fill the blanket. I found the plastic ants in a toy shop - you can't have a picnic without ants, right!
Recipe: Stamps: Picnic Basket & Food - Museum Of Modern Rubber; Bear - Printworks; Pizza - unknown
Other: Plastic Ants; Silverware Punch

Magnetic Bookmark Cards

Well today was club day for me at the stamp club I belong to down the coast. Our project today was from a Stamping & Papercrafts magazine from about a year ago, magnetic bookmark cards. As the samples in the magazine were all made using House Mouse stamps many of us used our House Mouse images to create our cards. I did make one bookmark cards using a HM stamp but I didn't want to do all HM cards so I also went looking for another stamp to use and discovered this one I got about 11 years ago and hadn't used for a long time.
These cards are simple to make and ideal for when you want to give something a little bit more. All you need to do is create your card as normal with the fold of the card on the left side. For my cards I made hinged cards but you wouldn't have to do this unless you wanted to, this is what was made in the magazine and it was nice to do for a change.

On this second photo of the cats card you can see the bookmark off the card. It is best not to have toooo many layers on either your bookmark or your main card so that the magnet will work. We discovered today that not all magnets will work for this, with all the layers. If you look at both photos of the card card you can see that the pumpkin card only shows at the top of the bookmark so it matches the card, I trimmed it so it was level with the black image as you don't want toooo many layers on the side of the bookmark as it would change the look of the card itself. If you wanted to you could make your bookmark the whole length of the card, I cut both of mine a little shorter.
Seeing I have lots of HM stamps I did make one HM card, I am not sure if I have used this stamp before. I can't even remember buying it for that matter so maybe someone gave it to me as a gift - hmmmmm. However I got the stamp it is a darling image, this mouse looks soooo adorable on the ducks back. Pity they aren't as cute in real life.

Recipes:
Cats on Fence:
Stamps: Cats - STamps in Motion
Paper: White; Black; Pumpkin
Other: Black Ink; Black Brads - Bazzill; Magnet strip

House Mouse:
Stamps: HM - Stampabilities
Paper: White; Black; Yellow; Certainly Celery - SU
Other: Black Ink; Yellow Brads - Making Memories; Magnet strip

Make a Wish!

Well I just had to make another card for this weeks SCS sketch challenge, this time incorporating the colors for the color challenge and also making it into a square card. I am all out of chocolate chip card so I used my designer paper my secret sister sent me and also found I had some pinecone bazzill card which is close to the this color. I stamped the weave background stamp onto my cameo coral card using chestnut roan fluid chalk and then layered my designer paper on top of this.

Recipe:
Stamps: You take the Cake - My Favorite Things; Weave Background - Cornish Heritage Farms
Paper: Certainly Celery; Cameo Coral; au chocolate DP - Stampin' Up; Pinecone - Bazzill; White
Other: Black Ink; Chestnut Roan Fluid Chalk; Brads - Making Memories; Trias; Foam Tape.

Blogger Rak Received

I received this card from Nancy of Nancy's Creative Mess in the mail this afternoon. It is soooo much fun receiving this type of mail rather than all those horrid bills we sometimes get. Thank you Nancy I love the card!