Play Ball

Hi Crafty Friends,

It's challenge time with my friends over on the CCEE Stampers challenge blog.  Being a brand new month it's time to introduce a new challenge hostess which is Liz Williams.

Apparently today is Willie May's 90th Birthday, so for our challenge this week we are to create a card with a Baseball theme in his honour.

Down here in Australia baseball isn't as popular as it is in the USA, most Aussies follow sports like Cricket  and a few different forms of football. Luckily I do have a few baseball themed stamps from back when I was designing from a few different companies.

For my card today I decided to pull out my baseball bugs and sports stamps from Alota Rubber Stamps. I had a number of those so I figured I could use them together create a scene for a Slimline card. Unfortunately Alota Rubber Stamps is no longer in business, but it was good to get these out and play.

I created a Slimline Card using Slimline dies from Lawn Fawn, I used their Large Slimline with Sliders and Slimline Simple Stitched Hillside Borders die sets to create the background on the front of the card.

I added a few trees to the top of the grass area using the tree border from Karen Burniston's Long Nature Edges die set. I also added a grass border along the bottom of the card using the grass border die included in the same die set.

To create the clouds on the blue cardstock, I used Pinkfresh Studio's Cloud Builder die set.

The sentiment at the bottom of the card is from MFT Stamps PI - Baseball Boy die set.

For the inside of the card I created a pop-up card using Karen Burniston's Mini Pop Pop-up die set, I used one of the angled platforms to pop-up the baseball bugs on either side of the card. 

I used the Slimline Simple Stitched Hillside Borders die set from Lawn Fawn again to create the curve of the grass on the back panel of the card. I again added some trees along the edge of the grass area.

Along the bottom edge of the card I added a grass border using a grass border die from Karen Burniston's Long Nature Edges die set.

I added the seats to the back panel of the card, which is another of the stamps from Alota Rubber Stamps. 

To finish off the card I added a sentiment using two of the sentiments from MFT Stamps' PI - Baseball Boy stamp set.

Don't forget to check out the CCEE Stampers blog (goes live 12 AM EST) to see the rest of the creations the CCEE Stampers created this week. You can also see more details of their creations on their individual blogs:

Anne Harmon

Liz Williams

Lois Bak

Lynn McAuley

Maryann Einam

Kelly McKown-Santi

Manila Habib

Other Supplies:

Slugger Bug - Alota Rubber Stamps (discontinued)

Pitching Ball Bug - Alota Rubber Stamps (discontinued)

Catcher Bug - Alota Rubber Stamps (discontinued)

Scoreboard - Alota Rubber Stamps (discontinued)

Seats - Alota Rubber Stamps (discontinued)

PI Baseball Boy (sentiments) - MFT Stamps (discontinued)

Mega Ovals - Spellbinders (discontinued)

Viva Las Vegas

Hi everyone,

It's challenge time with my friends over on the CCEE Stampers challenge blog. As challenge hostess for the month I continue to issue the challenges!!!

Yesterday was World Music Day; Music Day and Make Music Day .... so let's include something music related on our cards this week.



I decided to play with the new Snowman Twist Circle die set from Karen Burniston. Instead of using the snowman that comes in the set I added my music image instead. This die set has sooooo many options.

To decorate my card I used an old stamp from my stash ... froggy Elvis from Alota Rubber Stamps (unfortunately this company is no longer in business). I also used some old "Elvis" themed stamps that I purchased from the old  Cornish Heritage Farms many years ago. The music notes are from Tonic Studios.



Here you can see my card as it is closing. The circle in the centre of the card moves towards the right side of the card.



Here is a look at my card when it is closed ... totally flat so it can fit into an envelope.



And finally one last photo this time of the front of the card. I used the Elvis background stamp for the side panel and then added the Memory Box Happy Birthday and a Guitar from MFT Stamps.

Don't forget to check out the CCEE Stampers blog (goes live 12 AM EST) to see the rest of the creations the CCEE Stampers created this week. You can also see more details of their creations on their individual blogs:

Anne Harmon

Joanne Grzelak

Liz Williams

Lois Bak

Lynn McAuley

Maryann Einam

Vicky Gould

Stamps: Frog as Elvis - Alota Rubber Stamps; Elvis Is …; Elvis; Viva Las Vegas;  Cornish Heritage Farms (old)

Paper: White; Green; Orange; Rock Star DP - Bella Blvd

Dies: Twist Circle Pop Up - Karen Burniston; ModaScrap Stitched Fishtail Banners - Elizabeth Craft Designs; Treble Clef - Tonic Studios; Happy Birthday Melody - Memory Box

Other: Black Ink; Forest Moss Distress Ink; Foam Tape; Copics

This Stitch is for You

Hi everyone,

It's challenge time with my friends over on the CCEE Stampers challenge blog.  As challenge hostess this month I continue to issue the challenges.

Sunday 27th November is Pins and Needles Day which commemorates the opening of a historical Broadway Play called Pins and Needles in 1937.

This week let's create cards with a sewing theme, using either stamps, dies, papers, buttons, pins, needles or any combination of the above.

For my card today I created a pop up card using the Lots of Pops Pop Up Card die set designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs.

To decorate my card I used an image from Alota Rubber Stamps which unfortunately went out of business a number of years ago. 

Along the top and bottom of my card I used a zip die to create two zips. I have had this die for sometime and finally got to use it :)

Here is another view of my card so you can see the pop up part of my card a little better.

For the front of my card I used a sewing themed sentiment using the Elizabeth Craft Designs Stitched Circles and Dotted Scallop Circles for layering.

I added two reels of thread and a needle to embellish my card.

Don't forget to check out the CCEE Stampers blog (goes live 12 AM EST) to see the rest of the creations the CCEE Stampers created this week. You can also see more details of their creations on their individual blogs:

Anne Harmon

Joanne Grzelak

Liz Williams

Lois Bak

Lynn McAuley

Maryann Einam

Vicky Gould

Stamps: Bees on Pincushion; This Stitch is for You - Alota Rubber Stamps; Glad we're Friends - Penny Black

Paper: White; Cream; Dark Pink; Silver; Sew Lovely Trim Marks DP - Carta Bella

Dies: Lots of Pops Pop Up Card; Katie Label Pivot Card - designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs; Stitched Circles; Dotted Scalloped Circles - Elizabeth Craft Designs; Zippity-Do-Da - Fancy That; Stitched With Love - MFT Stamps

Other: Black Ink; Foam Tape; Copics

Bee-autiful Day

Hi everyone,

Today I am sharing another project I created some years ago, but have never shared on my blog.

Here you can see my book when it is closed.

This is called a Star Book, when you open the book up and tie the ribbon so that the two covers are back to back you can see the star shape from overhead.

Here is another view of the star book when it is opened taken from overhead.

All the pages in this book were decorated using stamps from Alota Rubber Stamps, unfortunately this company closed down a few years ago.

This pages uses the Bugs full of Blueberries stamp.

I just love this space scene using the cute little bees. This is the Outer Space Bugs & Girl Space Bug.

This one is named after my friend and her hubby ... Mary Ann/Ian Building Aussie Burger. 

This scene was created using the Bug Reading with Laying Down Boy Bug.

Here we have Crystal & Renee Tea Bugs .

The two scuba diving bees in this scene are named after my husband and I :) ... I had a few stamps made by this company that the owner Helene named after my family members.

And finally this image is called Susan, Frances and Helene which was named after my good friend Susan, myself and the owner Helene.

It was fun revisiting this project, it brought back a lot of fun memories. Hope you enjoyed it too.

Stamps: Bugs Full of Blueberries; Outer Space Bugs; Girl Space Bug; Crystal & Renee Tea Bugs; Bug Reading; Laying Down Boy Bug;  Mary Ann/Ian Building Aussie Burger; Ocean Scene; Phil  Scuba Diving; Frances; Susan, Frances and Helene

Paper: White; yellow; Black; DP

Other: Black Ink; Ribbon; Copics

Blueberries

Hi everyone,

It's challenge time with my friends over on the CCEE Stampers challenge blog. Our challenge hostess for the month, Maryann Einam continues to issue the challenges.

Apparently today is National Blueberry Cheesecake day, who knew but it sounds yummy so make a card with this theme in mind.

For my card today I pulled out one of my Alota Rubber Stamps images, this stamp is perfect for this challenge with all those blueberries in their basket. I guess they are thinking about baking a Blueberry Cheesecake right!

For the base of my card I used the Hanging Charm Pull Tab die set designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs. I substituted the frame that comes in the die set,  for the Stitched Ovals and Dotted Scallop Ovals.

Here is another view of my card, this time at an angle soo you can see the pull tab in action.

And the card when it is closed ready to be popped in an envelope.

And finally the back of my card where I added another sentiment.

Don't forget to check out the CCEE Stampers blog (goes live 12 AM EST) to see the rest of the creations the CCEE Stampers created this week. You can also see more details of their creations on their individual blogs:

Anne Harmon
Joanne Grzelak
Liz Williams
Lois Bak
Lynn McAuley
Maryann Einam

Vicky Gould

Stamps: Bugs full of Blueberries - Alota Rubber Stamps; Strawberries2stamp; Morestrawberries2stamp - The Stamps of Life

Paper: White; Blue; Lavender; Zig Zag DP - Fabscraps

Dies: Hanging Charm Pull Tab - designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs; Stitched Ovals; Dotted Scallop Ovals - Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other: Black Ink; Fibres; Copics

Hello

Hi everyone,

It's challenge time with my friends over on the CCEE Stampers challenge blog. Our challenge hostess for the month, Maryann Einam continues to issue the challenges.

Maryann has challenged us to create something with reflections, it could be in a mirror or on water or a verse that looks into the past.

For my card today I have used an Alota Rubber Stamp image of a bug looking in a mirror.

I have created a Pull Card using the Rectangle Pull Card using the Rectangle Pull Card designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs.

On the inside of my card I computer generated a sentiment I found online which includes the word 'reflect'.

Don't forget to check out the CCEE Stampers blog (goes live 12 AM EST) to see the rest of the creations the CCEE Stampers created this week. You can also see more details of their creations on their individual blogs:

Amber Hillman
Anne Harmon
Joanne Grzelak
Liz Williams
Lois Bak
Lynn McAuley
Maryann Einam
Sabrina Friel
Vicky Gould

Stamps: Bug Looking in Mirror - Alota Rubber Stamps

Paper: White; Black; Red; Dots & Stripes 8 x 8 Paper Pad - Echo Park

Dies: Rectangle Pull Card; Rectangle Accordion Card - designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other: Black Ink; Black Candy Dot; Foam Tape; Copics

Spectacular Birthday

Hi everyone,

It’s challenge time with the “Crazies” over on the Crazy 4 Challenges blog.  Being a brand new month it is time to introduce a new challenge hostess, which this time is Barb Anders.

This week Barb tells us that .... There are ALL kinds of "holidays" these days, have you noticed? One of the "monthly" observances for May (in the US, at least) is Healthy Vision Month. I know we're all aware of how precious vision is, so let's celebrate it this week. Your project should have something related to vision or eyes on it. Use your imagination--the "eyes" have it this week!

For my card today I decided to pull out an old stamp from a company called Alota Rubber Stamps which is no longer in business. I have always loved their cute bug stamps and of course this one with the glasses was perfect for this challenge.

As luck would have it, the day before I made this card I purchased yet another paper pad. When I got home to look at the papers closer I discovered the one with the glasses all over it ... perfect!

As you can see I have made a pop up card using the Lucy Label Pop Up Card set designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs.

I have had the eye chart sentiment for years so of course I had to use that too.

Here is a side view of my card. I added a label to the bottom panel which is from the Lorna Label Pop Up Card set.

For the front of the card, I used the resist technique with an Eye Chart Stencil to create my background. I decorated the background by die cutting glasses layering each pair with 3 die cut pieces to give it some depth.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the “Crazies” cards over on the Crazy 4 Challenges blog and also their individual blogs for more details.

• Anja de Regt
• Barbara Anders
• Danielle Lounds
• Jessie Rone
• Joanne Grzelak
• Karen Aicken
• Kelli Hull
• Lynn Putt
• Peggy McCurry
• Raquel Mason
• Broni Holcomb (May Guest Designer)

Stamps: Bug with Spectacles - Alota Rubber Stamps; I Chart - Penny Black

Paper: White; Navy; Red; Modern Miss DP - Bo Bunny

Dies: Lucy Label Pop Up; Lorna Label Pop Up - designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs; MFT Die-namics Geek is Chic Glasses

Other: Black Ink; Evergreen Bough Distress Ink; Versamark Ink; Clear Embossing Powder; Brayer; Tim Holtz Eye Chart Stencil; ECD Transparent Glitter Dots; Foam Tape; Copics

Alota Rubber Stamps–50% Off

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I received an email from my friend Helene who is the owner of Alota Rubber Stamps. Apparently she is planning on closing the Alota Rubber Stamps website so that she and her husband can enjoy their retirement by travelling and spending time with the Grandkids. She will however be keeping her EBay store open for now.

What does this mean for you … it means that Alota Rubber Stamps is having a 50% off everything in stock sale using discount code ARSALE.

In Helene’s email she mentioned that she had been in business for 18 years and I would have know her for a large part of those years as I was attracted to the Alota Bugs when they first appeared in Stampers Sampler way way back. I think I have just about every bug/bee image there is and believe me there are ALOT!

Helene was kind enough to name a great many of her Alota Bugs after me and my family. The one used on my card above is two stamps the one flying is named Frances (me) and the one sitting is Susan (my friend). There is also a bigger version of this stamp called Susan and Frances with Susan sitting on a Flower … but it was too big to use on the card I wanted to make today.

Alota Rubber Stamps was the very first Design Team I started on and that was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy before Design Teams were the norm! I don’t think there was even a name for it back then. We have had lots of fun times in the past 18 years …  the best being when Helene and I surprised my friend Susan when we were going to a stamp convention and Helene turned up as well. This was followed by the three of us coming back up to Brisbane for a week of fun!

For my card today I used Alota Rubber Stamps Frances; Susan and Best Gift to create an Accordion Card.

I used the Oval Accordion Card die set and coordinating Oval Flourish Frame Edges die set designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs for my card base.

Don’t forget you need to use the discount code ARSALE in order to receive the 50% off.  If you haven’t visited Alota Rubbers Stamps before check it out NOW before many of these fabulous stamps are no longer available!!!

Stamps: Frances; Susan; Best Gifts – Alota Rubber Stamps

Paper: White; Black; Yellow

Pop It Ups: Oval Accordion Card; Oval Flourish Frame Edges – Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Crafts Design

Other: Black Ink; Foam Tape;  Copics

It’s Picnic Time

Hi everyone,

It’s challenge time with the “Crazies” over on the Crazy 4 Challenges blog. This week Andrea Murdock brings us her final challenge as hostess for July.

For our challenge this week Andrea has challenged us with the theme … Picnic Time!- Interpret this anyway you’d like! You could do a card with a checkered tablecloth background, a food card, a picnic invite, ice cream, fireworks, ANTS! Whatever picnic means to you!

Yes I am still playing with my Sizzix Pop N Cuts die I purchased recently. As I had already created a Picnic themed Pop Up card featuring ants which you can see here, I decided to go in another direction this week.

This week I decided to use this cute Bugs Picnic stamp from Alota Rubber stamps to create my card.  I have used the Sizzix Pop N Cuts Square Card with Ornate Edge for the card base … I love the shape this creates!

For the inside of my card I used the Sizzix Pop N Cuts Wavy Label Insert along with the Sizzix Wavy Label Framelits set.

I pulled out some really old picnic stamps from my stash from Museum of Modern Rubber. Along the lower edge of my card I have used a Picnic Border punch from EK Success which I think is now discontinued. I punched it out once from white card and then from red so that I could color the basket and pie that are on the top of the border.

.Don't forget to check out the rest of the “Crazies” cards over on the Crazy 4 Challenges blog and also their individual blogs for more details.

Andrea Murdock	Anja de Regt	Barb Anders	Betty Wright	Jessie Rone	Joanne Grzelak	Kelli Hull
Kristine Reynolds	Peggy McCurry	Sarah Gough	Silke Ledlow	Silke Kittman	Sarah Kipling (Guest Designer)

InLinkz.com

Stamps: Bees Picnic – Alota Rubber Stamps; Picnic Stamps (inside) Museum of Modern Rubber

Paper: White; Red; Green; Kraft; DP

Other: Black Ink; Sizzix Pop N Cuts Square Card with Ornate Edge; Sizzix Pop N Cuts Wavy Label Insert; Sizzix Wavy Label Framelits; EK Success Picnic Border Punch; MFT Die-namics Fresh Cut Grass; Red Hemp Cord; Yellow Button; Foam Tape; Copics