Laced Up For The Stamp Spot

Well it's week 2 of Marcia's ribbon and embellishment challenge for the DT over at The Stamp Spot. I like trying new things and often use a challenge as a good excuse to try something different. I've never used lacing on my cards before and thought this thin gingham ribbon would work well - so here we are - all laced up! The fabulous large pink rhinestone brad was also in my DT kit - it suited fairy Chloe beautifully!

My CS is SU but I got everything else from The Stamp Spot store. The Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses DP was from the Christmas collection 6"x6" paper pad - and Marcia still had one in stock when I checked.

I've been inspired by what the rest of the DT has come up with using their kits - why don't you pop over to TSS blog and be inspired too!

And don't forget it's the last few days of The Stamp Spot's Moving Sale!!!

xXx

Would You Be My Friend Forever?

This week over at Mo's Digital Pencil Challenges they have a fascinating challenge for us - and I couldn't wait to play along! You need to use "would/wood" on your creation. My mind zoomed straight into fifth gear as I pictured a picture - a wooden framed picture that is! The inspiration for this came from my wonderful friend Leonie - check out her picture frame card HERE.

Then to choose one of Mo's fabulous images - and these guys just jumped off the screen and into my printer - I swear I barely thought about it - LOL. I could see a lazy Summer's day with these guys resting beneath a tree after playing fetch with tennis balls - so that's what I tried to create!

I headed off into my room and dragged inkpads across some CS to create some faux wood for my frame - you can check the colours and details to do this HERE. I didn't add any "plank" lines though.

Now being a boy's card I couldn't use flowers - nooooooooooo - what will I do!!!!! The answer was buttons. These clear buttons are fabulous because you can back them with DPs for a co-ordinated and fun look. A 7 looped bow made out of twine was a fun addition - and really easy to do with my Bow Easy! The sentiment is from Bizzy Bec's Digital range and was just perfect for these guys.

After I had my card put together I looked at it and it seemed to be missing something - so I asked DH what he thought - his answer - "tennis balls.... there" - as he pointed to the bottom right!!! Well I can't argue with a bloke when it's a bloke's card but where was I going to find tennis balls for my card at 10.30pm!?!??! Doh - they were right there on the card already!!! I cropped the one out of the image, made it larger and printed 3 off. Some colouring and cutting - DONE.

xXx

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #32 - Pink and Grey

What a fabulous colour combo we have for you this week at Magnolia Down Under  - Pink and Grey! This is also the first week back as a weekly challenge and also the first week that the DT has been split into 2 groups! So don't forget you only have until noon next Saturday to play along - Melbourne time!!!!

I used some wonderful Kaiser DP that was just the right pink and had the soft look I wanted. I've also used my fabulous new Martha Stewart punch for a bit of interest. And I know I don't use ribbon much - am trying to change that!!! - but I do LOVE this mesh - and I found one that was a bit thinner than the others, and grey - PERFECT!!!! My wonderful bow easy made tying the bows a breeze.

My nesties are layered up on dimensionals - and I ended up needing to pop 3 layers of dimensionals to support Tilda's feet and head!! The problem with Whisper White CS is that it's a bit thinner than most so it does need a bit of support! The best thing - it goes through my fussy printer when I'm doing digi's - if only my printer would take Kraft!!!! The fabulous flowers and leaves are from Bizzy Becs - with the exception of the large pink one.

This week the wonderful Kellie Winnell is sponsoring MDUC - check out the fabulous prize pack she's put together  - and then go and see what this week's DT group have been up to for inspiration. From the sneak peek I've had you WON'T be disappointed!!!! I know, I know - I say that EVERY challenge - but what else can you expect with this fabulous DT - LOL?!?!?!

xXx

February Guest Design Spot for Sunshine's Stamps!!

Last year I was honoured to be a part of Sunshine's Stamps DT - but life got in the way and I had to pull out of my commitment. Luckily for me they wanted me to be their very first Guest DT member for February and I am honoured to be back with the team, even short term!

This cute little guy is part of Sunshine's Valentine's Day collection and his name is Huckleberry. Now I don't make Valentine's cards as I've mentioned before - but I couldn't resist this little guy and with my anniversary last week I decided to use Huck for a card for my hubby! Where has the time gone??? I can't believe we've been married 26 years - AND I still love having him around!!! Apologies for the soppy sentiment - but I often use the term "Hunny Bunny" with my hubby - I know - too much information - LOL. Needless to sat I didn't have the perfect stamp to use so I generated the sentiment on my computer. Some "macho" DP made sure this wasn't toooo soppy for him, even though I glittered up the heart - LOL. And I guess I'm in black, red and white mode again for this card - LOL

Now I reckon this cutie would also look fabulous holding and Easter egg - or even a bunch of flowers! And I'm sure you can come up with some ideas too!!!

Thanx for Having me back Sunshine - it's gonna be a fun February!

xXx

It's All Kellie's Fault - LOL

Recently I got an email from the lovely Kellie telling me to check out a site offering some cute digi images - so of course I just HAD to pop over and check it out!!!! The site is called Pink Petticoat and this cutie is from their Frillie Millies collection. They have some fun and funky images to check out - so now it's YOUR turn to be tempted - LOL.

We have almost finished decorating DD17s room - in black, red and white - so I was using that for my inspiration. The blonde hair was inspired by DD too. The neatness of the layout was NOT inspired by DD - LOL - how can one teenager spread clothes SOOO far around her room AND have them piled so high with shoes lurking beneath to twist an unsuspecting ankle!?!?!?!?!

The fabulous layout is from this week's Sketch Saturday challenge blog - where I'm entering this card.

xXx

A Sneaky Day Change For The Stamp Spot!

No - your week isn't flying past faster than you thought - it IS Tuesday today - LOL!!! I know my usual DT day for The Stamp Spot is Wednesday but sometimes we DT have things on that get in the way of posting to our regular schedules! This is one of those occasions and Sue and I have agreed to swap days this week - it's great working with these lovely gals and even greater when we can help each other out!

For the month of February Marcia has asked her DT to highlight some of the wonderful ribbons she stocks instore. You may have noticed I don't often use ribbon - not sure why really as a good piece of ribbon or a beautiful bow can be such a highlight on a card - and I certainly have enough hiding in my craftroom!

For this card I've tied this lovely brown lace into a bow and nestled it amongst some roses. All supplies are available at The Stamp Spot Store with the exception of the base CS and sentiment stamp and punches. The DP is from Bo Bunny - I LOVE their papers!!! I've used 3 of the 4 sides on here - who needs to know how to co-ordinate when the hard work is done for you!

I'm sure I'll get some wonderful inspiration from the rest of the DT on using ribbon this month - hope you have time to pop in and check their work out too.

And  don't forget - Marcia's sale is still on instore until February 19th!

xXx

Mo's Challenge #16 and Friday Sketchers #87

This week's challenge over at Mo's Digital Pencil Challenges is "Shades of Grey" and I was a little unsure how this cute baby would come up in greys but I guess Mo's images are fabulous enough to be done in any colour scheme! I'm also entering this into this week's Friday Sketchers - using a wonderful sketch from Jeanette.

My card is fairly self explanatory - I've used Mo's "Kai in the Snow" and paired him with the snowflakes cuttlebug folder and a fabulous free DP download from Jak Heath. I also took the opportunity to use my new icicles Martha Stewart border punch. The ticket sentiment is from Bizzy Bec's Digital Store and the snowflake is a mix of nesties (black) and MS punches (white) which have been drenched in Dazzling Diamonds and layered up with a rhinestone centre.

Now it's a bit hard to see but I've also used a silver glitter pen on parts of Kai's outfit - you can just see the shine off his zippers, cuffs and stars in this photo - as always it looks soo much better IRL! This card came together sooo easily - compared to another one I've seem to have been working on for days and just can't seem to get right! Even my hubby asked why the other card was causing me soo much grief when this one was easy!!! I guess it's because these fabulous images are soo easy to work with. If I EVER get the other card finished I'll show you - maybe you can tell me what's wrong!

xXx

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #31 - A Girlie Card with a Sketch and The Colour Orange

This week we have a fabulous sketch for you to play with over at Magnolia Down Under Challenges. But it's not JUST a sketch challenge - your card must be girlie and have the colour orange on it somewhere!

Our fabulous sponsor this week is The Cutting Cafe and I've based the concept of my card around their fabulous printable background stamp "Sweetheart" - after all - what is more girlie than a love of sweet treats - LOL. I've cut a circle out of my printed sheet using my largest circle nestability, and then sponged some SU More Mustard ink around the edges. My 60s Tilda's Lollipop has got a "sugar" coating of stickles on - and is popped up on dimesionals for added effect.

I love orange and blue together so have paired my Magnolia DP with some SU Bashful Blue CS. I did change the sketch around a little by popping my flowers on the other side - there just wasn't room on the RHS. But Kellie always says - sketches are for inspiration and are NOT set in concrete. The flowers and digi ticket are Bizzy Bec's, the wire heart and lace was from Magnolia Down Under, and the flower was from The Stamp Spot.

I confess I hadn't heard of The Cutting Cafe before they sponsored our challenge - but I've been over to check out what they have on offer and have been most impressed! They offer a huge range of affordable printable stamps and cutting templates - I'll be off to check them out better ASAP!

And major apologies - due to my internet issues I wasn't able to let you know earlier that Kellie is having a SALE on ALL her stamps of 10-15% off for this weekend only at the Magnolia Down Under Store!!! This includes the personalised stamps!! There's still time to pop over and grab yourself a bargain!

My next job though is to pop over to MDUC and check out what the rest of our fabulous DT have come up with to amaze and inspire - I hope you can make the trip there too.....

xXx

I Could Just SCREAM!!!!! - Plus TGF Relay #4 - Prince Ian

So scream I WILL - AAAAAAAGH!!!! That's better - have it out of my system - LOL! Why scream you ask??? My wonderful telecommunications provider has had me pulling my hair out for the past 48 hours! I have had no home phone OR internet - and when we rang AGAIN earlier this afternoon we were told this would probably be the case until NEXT TUESDAY!!! WHHHAAAAAATTTTTTT!!!! Needless to say my neighbours and I have been fuming in the street - it's amazing and scary just how computer reliant we are! Over the past few hours our uni student kids need to enrol online, my kids have sold some toys on ebay and I can't access the seller's info, and - most importantly -  I NEED TO BLOG - LOL.....

I went out and bought a pre-paid internet modem so I wouldn't be completely cut off and as I was trying to get it up and running my computer came back online!!!! WHAT - it's only Friday evening???? But I'm NOT going to complain - I'm just ducking on quickly in case it's only short term!!!

LUCKILY for me The Greeting Farm relay had to be stopped due to unforseen circumstances so I didn't miss out on finishing the race - and luckily I had discovered this BEFORE my internet went down or I would have been going a little nutso - Oh OK - more nutso than usual - LOL!!! I did get my last fabulous digi image to play with - and you can get him FREE too - check it out HERE. I wanted to finish off what I started so here is my Prince Ian - better late than never!!!

I decided every Prince needs a Princess and/or a castle - and since Princess Anya is still on my wish list and not in my stamping room I had to give this guy a castle!!! I was inspired by THIS fabulous tri-fold castle by Deneen Treble - but as I believed time was limited I used it as inspiration to come up with a simpler card. I started with a standard 5 1/2" square card and used a version of Deneen's to come up with the turrets. The back is simply shaped into a pitched roof.

I used my cuttlebug to add some "stone" like texture to the turrets and some "wood grain" to the door! My wonderful new nesties from The Stamp Spot (currently on sale!!) and one of my new Martha Stewart border punches got a work out too! DP is from The Greeting Farm's Sunny Glen range and all CS if from Stampin' Up.

If any of my Aussie bloggers want to check out some awesome prices on MS punches I got mine HERE! They arrived in a couple of weeks and were well worth the wait - and the shipping was ridiculously cheap - I've had stamp sets cost me more than my FOUR new punches - I know - I do LOVE to shop - LOL!!! But I figure I need to make sure my crafting room is fully stocked BEFORE I quit my job and have no more cashflow!!!

Anyhow - enough of a good thing for now - I need to get this posted... just in case!!! I sincerely HOPE I'll be back soon!!!

xXx

TGF Relay #3 - Toby Cub

This is my second post for the day - scroll down to see my Stamp Spot DT card! I just realised that the colours and distressing are similar - even though I made these several days apart. I am obviously in a blue, distressed mood - maybe it's the thought of going back to work tomorrow  - LOL.

There were TWO problems playing with this little guy - getting him printed off as my DD17 is sleeping in the office while we re-do her room!! And we ALL know how WELL teenagers sleep in!!! I was getting REALLY close to trying to sneak in!!! I had Toby sitting there on my laptop just waiting to be printed off for what seemed like AGES - probably because it was...

 The other problem - DS11 who is HATING being teased about how this cute guy in a nappy is - why you ask??? My son's name is Toby too - LOL.

I used an old Friday Sketchers sketch for inspiration - this "speed stamping" as my friend Lisa puts it - is a challenge - so I needed a little help! I think I need to do some "training" if I decide to play along in future relays - LOL

I've used a favourite colour combo - kraft, blue and white. And this time I went with a more conventional sentiment - a digi ticket from Bizzy Bec's. The DP and CS is from Stampin' Up

Tomorrow's relay card will be a REAL challenge! I'm out this afternoon so will miss the preview and it's back to work tomorrow. I am SERIOUSLY thinking it might be the PERFECT night for takeaway for dinner so I can get it done - LOL

xXx