KWerner Color Inspiration #47

Hmmm - here I was thinking this one would be easy for me - but it wasn't. Maybe it was because I got to bed at 2.30am on Saturday night - after seeing the last of my daughter's 17th birthday party guests off!!! AND then I had all the post party clean up in the morning before I had a chance to stamp!! So many floors to vacuum and mop, and furniture to put back!! I can't really complain - the kids were great - all 50 of them!!


I decided to make this card as a Thank You for one of the dads that came to help out at the party - still have a card to make for the other dad! These guys came to help my hubby out as the party was organised AFTER I had made plans for a girl's night out! I admit to feeling guilty while sitting at a lovely Japanese restaurant with friends - but the guys did a great job!

The stamp is from Pocket Silhouettes...

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #5 - Easter

This week's MDUC challenge really was a bit of a challenge for me as I didn't have ANY Easter stamps - let alone Magnolia Easter stamps!!!! Kellie had kindly offered to stamp an image off for me of Bunny Tilda - who is REALLY Cute BTW - but I decided that some of our challenge entrants may be in a similar situation to me and I wanted to prove it CAN be done!!! This is what I came up with...

The fence is made from Old Olive CS which had been scalloped and run through my crimper before being sponged and having "rails" added. The Easter Eggs are cut using my oval Nesties - so they aren't true egg shapes - but they do the job!! The 2 plain eggs got the Cuttlebug treatment, something that has been missing from my last few cards - just to prove I'm NOT addicted - LOL. I popped everything on a Soft Sky background that I had rollered using my Speckled wheel - the whole effect reminded me of sparrow eggs we used to find in nests as kids - on a "look but no touch" basis of course.

The faux brads on the photo corners were made from cutting circles of DP and layering them with Crystal Effects. And here's my BIG confession - I didn't even have an Easter sentiment stamp so this one was cut out of my old catalogue - the one that was already falling apart and had been replaced months ago!!!

Anyway - hopefully this will give you some inspiration for this week's Easter challenge at MDUC, even if you don't own any Easter stamps!!

Tilda Skating Birthday

For those of you who regularly visit my blog you may know my daughter is a figure skater - which of course means she has several skating friends too. This card was made for one of them! I was colouring her at the rink - a place I often take my "homework"!!! I had coloured her skirt in purple tonings as it's a colour Tori likes but I wasn't sure what colour to use for her top - so asked one of the junior skaters - and guess what - she chose PINK!!!

It was really nice to get the reaction I got when we gave Tori the card - apparently this will now take a spot on her "skating shelf" in her room - much better than the paper bin - LOL...

As you can see I'm still a little obsessed with my new Nesties - I'm sure it will pass eventually!!!

Wishing you all a fabulous rest of your weekend - am off to dinner with some girlfriends.....

Victorian bushfire Fundraiser Update!!!!

We are giving away over 100 prizes!! The deadline for the Non-Raffle has been extended until next Friday, April 3rd. All donations will go directly to the Australian Red Cross to help the victims who were affected by the fires. You can read more about it here. Please consider giving a donation of $5 or $25 USD. All donators will be put in the drawing for over 100 fabulous prizes. Please go take a look at the gallery to see them! So far we have raised a little over $2,000(USD) and were hoping to raise a little more. With the economy, times are tough right now for us all, but they've been devastating to those who lost their homes etc. so please take a minute and consider what you can give. The logo on the top of my sidebar is also linked directly to the Fundraiser.

Thanx sooo much for your consideration of this truly amazing fundraiser!!!

Paper Makeup Stamps Monday Challenge

This weeks challenge from the PMS Blog was a sketch challenge. My card ended up more rectangular than the sketch because I just LOVE these new Nesties and they are rectangular!! I had already started colouring this image of "Lauren in Love" so I finished her off and blinged her up. I've used Real Red and Bashful Blue as the main colours. It's a fairly simple card - I had thought about using some DP or stamping the background but I decided I liked the simplicity - it gives Lauren all the attention and I think she deserves it!!

In Sympathy

Last week I had the misfortune to have to make a sympathy card for a new friend and my husband's colleague who had suddenly lost a family member. This really is NOT the type of card anyone likes to make and I really struggled with it. I usually tend to "be there" for friends in this situation and not send cards - I prefer the personal touch. However a trip to Toronto, Canada was out of the question so I had to knuckle down and create something special. Recently I had seen the type of card I wanted to do on Michelle's blog - Stamp and Smile - check out her gorgeous card here. Unfortunately we didn't have the stamp set Michelle used, but it will be available in April in the new catalogue. I ended up using my Fantasy stamp from Penny Black and used black embossing to put it on some BoBunny DP. I layered my image onto Basic Black and Sahara Sand. The sentiment was also embossed. I then sponged some black under the tree to "ground" it. I was pleased with how it ended up - just wish it was for a happier occasion. Hopefully it will bring some comfort knowing that people are thinking of them from across the world!

Magnolia Blog Candy!!!!

WOW - look what's on offer over at Pretty Pressings. If you've been wanting some wonderful Magnolia Stamps to be able to enter Magnolia Down Under Challenges here's a chance for you to win some!! But don't all rush - I'd like a chance too - LOL....

Good luck!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #4

The theme this week is "BLING IT ON". With a daughter who does figure skating this stamp just called out "pick me, pick me!". I have spent soo much time adding bling to skating costumes it was nice to add it to a card about skating! I really wish you could see this IRL - the chunky glitter, the diamontes and the sparkly silver ribbon just bling up a storm in the light! I have even used a silver glitter gel pen on the skate blades - a sensory overload - LOL.

Here's a little "show off" photo of my daughter skating!! Melbourne has only 1 undersized rink - so our skating community is very small - but we just LOVE the sport!!

This is one of her "signature" moves - she mastered it early on and is now always included in her routines! It's hard taking competition photos though - the ice is so far away, you can't use a flash and the skaters move too fast!!! At least my cards sit still when I'm taking their photos - LOL...

I hope this has inspired you to come along and play at MDUC this week.....

KWerner Color Inspiration Challenge #46

I knew exactly how I wanted this challenge to go - and half way through I put what I was working on away in frustration!! It was only when my daughter walked in and picked up the flower with an exclamation of "it's stunning!" that I decided to finish it off - it's still not a favourite of mine but then you can't always please everyone and my daughter loves it!!!


I think the "From the Garden" flower is gorgeous and have wanted to use it for some time - so out it came! I've stamped it in Riding Hood Red twice - once on Pretty in Pink and once on Regal Rose. A did a bit of watercoloring in Bashful Blue on the leaves and Regal Rose on the flower and raised the flower up on Dimensionals. The flower centre has had some Crystal Effects used for more texture.

Experimenting with New Stuff!

Last week I went off to the Stitches and Craft Show in Melbourne with a friend and my 2 sisters. It was at a new venue and was run by new management - and I must admit to being very disappointed!! Never mind - more money to spend on the new catalogue!!!

One thing I did get was a "reverse image" stamp - where you can stamp an image onto the rubber and then re-stamp it as a mirror image onto cardstock - hope that makes sense?!?!?! I came home and grabbed a scrap of Very Vanilla with a torn edge and stamped the large fish from Fishy Friends on in reverse and as normal. I also stamped the hearts from the new Greetings Eight set. I put it away for a few days thinking it was "just a bit of fun" and a scrap to throw away sometime. I found it again today and decided to see what it would look like coloured up. One thing led to another and here's the end result - not too shabby for a scrap I was going to pop in the paper bin!!! Just remember - scraps CAN be useful - LOL...

Bizzy Becs Male Card Challenge

What great timing. Just after receiving an order from Bizzy Becs with my new Nestabilities and a couple of Bizzy becs stamps the challenge was issued to make a male card - with some metallic element on - AND this challenge has BLOG CANDY attached - woo hoo.

I'd like you to meet Owen - I think he's pretty darn cute! He looks like he's asking for a big hug with his hands out. I've coloured him in my usual fashion - watercolour crayons and aquapainter - and a dash of marker! His buttons have crystal effects on them for a bit more texture. The spider web background is done using my cuttlebug, embossing folder and then cut with my new nesties. The metallic element is covered with the 2 jumbo eyelets - which I had popped on before I read the challenge again and was reminded about the metal!! I thought I had a metal spider charm I was going to add - but couldn't find it :(

Colours are Real Red and Old Olive!

Midnight Madness Trophy

Last week Paula over at Precioso Designs issued a fabulous Asian inspired challenge - and I was the lucky winner so here's my trophy!

My card is here if you want to check it out.

I wanted to thank Carolann for giving me some stiff competition and Paula for the great challenge...

Keesh's Inspiration Challenge #5

I don't know what was wrong with me today!!! I had promised myself if I got some housework done I would spend some time stamping. Nothing seemed to go right for me!! I just couldn't get anything to work!!! Ah well - it was one of THOSE days I suppose!!

After several failed attempts at Keesh's challenge I finally got it to work OK. I've used the So Swirly Wheel and the Priceless stamp set. There's a bit of white embossing too. My colours are Night of Navy, Whisper White and Sahara Sand.



Also please don't forget to check out the SCS Bushfire Fundraiser - click on the logo on top of my sidebar to head over there. We have several pages of prizes to look at - it's well worth entering AND it's for a great cause!! It's closing on March 25th!

Late for the Challenge!

This little lady was originally going to be popped on a card for Kristina Werner's last challenge, Basic Black, Basic Gray and Whisper White. I began to colour her in last week - but then life got in the way and I missed out on getting her finished in time for the challenge. I also realised that the watercolour paper is more Very Vanilla than Whisper White anyway - so I put her away for a couple of days. But she looked so sad sitting unloved on my table that I decided she needed a card where she was the centre of attention. I decided to use Going Gray instead of the darker Basic Gray - and added a dash of Pretty in Pink too. I was a bit worried she'd look too dull - but I'm really happy with how she ended up!

Added bonus - I got to play with my new nesties again - LOL!

Sneak Peek from the New Catalogue

One of the joys of being a Stampin' Up demonstrator is that we get to pre-order a few items from the new Idea Book and Catalogue before it's general release! We only get to see a few items so we are all hanging out to see the rest of it with you - only a few more sleeps!!!!!

This set was the first one to catch my eye - it's one of the new Hostess Sets called Window Dressing - and the possibilities with it are endless!!! I've used 5 of the 10 stamps in this set to create this card. I've also used some of the new In Colours. Pacific Point and Tangerine Tango are the main colours, but I've used the riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss stamp pads to colour in too. The window shutters have been paper pieced and popped up on Dimensionals. The Stamp-a-ma-jig came in handy for placing the stamps where I wanted them to be too.

I also got to play with my new Nestability set - Curved Rectangles.

House Mouse Challenge #28 - One for the Men

The House Mouse Challenge for this week is to make a masculine card - and it has to be for a grown up male and not a little boy - but do little boys ever really grow up - LOL. I haven't joined in this challenge before but as my stamp collection is growing these are some of my favourite images and I decided it would be fun to play along. I also find masculine cards a little hard to work on so it was an even bigger challenge for me.

I love this image, it's just soo sweet! I've added some Crystal Effects to the sun and to add ripples in the water. The cardstock colours I've used are Chocolate Chip, Basic Black and Very Vanilla. The DP is from SU Designer Prints Series - this one is the 2 sides of one sheet in the Close to Cocoa set.

SCS Non Raffle for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal

I am so excited!!! The Non-Raffle for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal is finally live on Splitcoast! Lisa and I want to thank Jenn Balcer and Splitcoaststampers for helping us gather donations for the fire victims. It means sooo much! And, of course, we couldn't do this without all of the wonderfully talented and generous people who donated the prizes!!! You'll see what I mean when you check out the non-raffle prize gallery. The outpouring of support and generosity has been amazing.

The link is here.

If you would like to donate a prize to the prize gallery, please email me. The more the merrier! But we especially need to spread the word about the non-raffle so that we can collect monetary donations. After all, that's what it's all about... helping the victims of those terrible fires.

Lisa over at Craft's Meow is offering Blog Candy - to go in the draw all you need to do is put our logo on your blog with the link and spread the word. Then leave Lisa a comment here. You'll find the logo at the top of my side bar.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Paper Makeup Stamps Monday Challenge

I had an interesting day at work yesterday - I work in a school lab and was using the pressure cooker when it went "BANG, HISS AND KAPOW". We were soooo lucky that no-one was nearby when it blew - I had been right next to it a few seconds previously!! One of the teachers and I just jumped into the nearest classroom as we had no idea what the end result was going to be - luck was with us and all we ended up with was a HUGE mess to clean up!!

To make up for my rotten day at work I arrived home to find a parcel in the post - the Paper Makeup Stamps I had ordered - they are soooo cute!!! I popped over the the PMS Blog and checked out their latest challenge - yahooo - embellishing with at least 2 types of BLING!!! Figured I could handle THAT - LOL.


I chose the stamp "Sprout" to work on - not sure why they're all divine! The different forms of bling I've used are Dazzling Diamonds - on Sprout's wings, mini red rhinestones - on her top and shoes, and red glitter - on the heart in the sentiment. I'm not sure if pearls count as bling but they are there too - on the wonderful Embrace Life flower that I just can't help but use. This time I CASEd the idea for toling the flower from the very talented Ange Kelly - check out her stunning version here.

I've also used some DP from the Dashing series as well as the For a Friend stamp set for the sentiment. Other colours are Real Red, Very Vanilla and Basic Black. As usual I have used my watercolour crayons and aquapainter on SU watercolour paper for the stamped image.

Keesh's Inkspiration Colour Challenge #5

I have been trying to use my retiring stamp sets for the lates challenges - I can't believe Baroque Motifs is going!!(OOOPS - made a mistake here - really sorry for those I've stressed out!! This is obviously a favourite set of lots of us!!) It was one of the very first sets I got just before I joined SU - and I know this won't be the last time I use it - retired or not! Keesh's colour challenge has also used the retiring In Colours Soft Sky and Blue Bayou - I think these are such versatile colours and hope my stocks of card keep me going for some time yet.

Edited to apologise!!! I have sooo many lists flying around here with the SCS Bushfire Fundraiser going ahead VERY SOON. I must have spotted this set on the Bushfire Stamp list from SU and NOT the retiring list - thanx to everyone for pointing out my mistake but I'm soooo glad this set will be here a while yet!!! YAHOOOOOOO

Another edit - FYI, the little red spots on the flowers are red rhinestones!

Midnight Madness Inspiration Challenge #8

Paula from Precioso Designs has set a wonderful challenge this week - a theme I feel really at home with - Asian Gardens. I was lucky enough to live in Singapore for 2 1/2 years and this time in Asia gave me a love of Asian art and the meditative atmosphere of Asian inspired gardens. Recently the father of one of my son's friends told me my house was more Asian than his - he's Chinese!!!

Paula's garden is Japanese - but the feel of reflection and relaxation is symbolic in most Asian gardens. I decided this little fella looked like he was enjoying a nice quiet mouse moment. He went soo well with the fabulous sentiment from Artfully Asian. I popped him under some "cherry blossom" branches - these are from the Embrace Life set, as is the "bamboo". These elements are often found in Asian Gardens, there is even some bamboo in the inspiration picture. I haven't used all the colours Paula suggested, but then an inspiration is just that - and this is what her picture inspired me the create. Hope you like it!

The colours I've used are Regal Rose, Old Olive, Basic Black and Whisper White.

Will the real Magnolia Down Under Challenge #2 stand up!!!

Due to a slight technical hitch the wrong challenge post went up at Magnolia Down Under Challenges this morning, apologies for the mix-up, we're still learning!! Silly me thought I had made the mistake and went along with the post!!! The "Yellow Ribbon" post is actually for next week - so now you get an extra week to think about your work before you can enter! Since I've had 2 wonderful comments on my card already I'll leave it up...

Now onto the REAL challenge for this week.....

Getting tangled up in ribbons. We ask that you try and use 5 ribbons - more if you are able. All in different colours or at least different shades. Once again remember they can be stamped etc. But for this one we would like to see a few actual ribbons.

There's a funny story as to why I have done 2 different inspiration cards for this challenge. The original criteria was 5 ribbons and the colour brown. I had NO IDEA how to put 5 ribbons on one card!! I started off by decided to give poor old Edwin a chance to shine - and figured he would look great in brown pants - one criteria met! Not long after he was coloured I had to pop down to our local Spotlight (craft) store and found these gorgeous bright co-ordinating ribbons! I bought 5 different spools and had decided to weave them together to form a seat for Edwin! It was all looking great until I popped poor Edwin on and realised he just didn't suit the layout - so off I went and came up with this second card to showcase him. My son is turning 11 this year - as are most of his friends - so I figured I would get to use him at some stage!

I then went back to my original card and finished it off with a brightly coloured Tilda I found in my "already coloured" stash - I often sit and colour in front of the TV - it's very relaxing! To cover the brown on the Tilda card I popped her card front onto a Chocolate Chip card. After they were both done the DT decided we would simplify this challenge to be just "5 Ribbons".

I hope you are inspired to come along to Magnolia Down Under Challenges and join in the fun!

ADDED BONUS - PRIZE ON OFFER
Our lovely sponsor Bec from Bizzy Becs has been kind enough to sponsor us this month's major prize! The prize will be given at the end of the month - CHECK OUT THE CHALLENGE BLOG FOR DETAILS!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #3 - for the week beginning Sunday, 15th March!

This week I got to set the challenge. I decided the criteria would be

• Must have at least one yellow ribbon.
• Has to be Tilda.
• And last of all has to have a flower.

The reason for the yellow ribbon was that everyone here was wearing a yellow ribbon as a tribute to the Victorian Bushfire victims at the time I set the challenge. Of course silly me didn't realise that this meant EVERY store stocking yellow ribbon would have run out of it when I went to get some!!! I'm not really a yellow person so it's not something I usually have! I ended up pinching this piece from a box of chocolates - and yes they were VERY yummy!! I thought I better BUY the box too - LOL. I added the flower element to symbolise re-building and re-growth. Tilda is there because she just soooo cute, and let's face it - it wouldn't be a Magnolia challenge without her!

This weeks challenge has timed in very well with the launch of our SCS Victorian Bushfire Appeal. It will be up and running ASAP - there were a few technical hitches - but WACH THIS SPACE - I'll be adding the link sooooooon!!!! We have had some AMAZING prizes donated...

I've used So Saffron, Very Vanilla, More Mustard and Not Quite Navy here. And the SU stamp sets are For a Friend (Hostess) and Botanical Blooms (SAB)

I hope this inspires you to come along and play with our new challenge at Magnolia Down Under Challenges.

KWerner Color Inspiration #44

What lovely colours this week - you think they would be a bit dull with all the brown - but the touch of pink and white really gives it a lift.

I have to thank the lovely Leonie Hegarty for the inspiration for this card. While blog surfing today I saw she had used the Dahlia fold on top of cute little boxes at a class she had run. It's something I had seen before but had been put on my "to do" file - never to get done (LOL). After a bit of help from Leonie I managed to try this out for myself! I had planned to use the gorgeous retiring Berry Bliss DP anyway so everything came together and my card was done! The sentiment is a favourite one of mine - from the retiring hostess set "For a Friend". Of course there is a little bit of cuttlebugging in there too - I just can't help myself - is there a cuttlebug patch for people like me to get me off this embossing addiction!?!?!?!?! :-)

So Long Fishy Friends!

I had a chance to stamp for myself today as my dear hubby was working from home. This means I need to be quiet when he's working and I have hardly any access to my home phone in case it's needed for business. What a shame most household chores are noisy, or at least the ones I HAD to do today like vacuuming - LOL. This meant I had to hide away and quietly play with my stamps - not too hard to take!! I have been wanting the Fishy Friends set for ages - and finally bit the bullet a few weeks ago and ordered it - JUST IN TIME!!! It's now on the retiring list and won't be available any more soon!! So I stamped up the octopus for the very first time! After I coloured him I covered his hood in Crystal Effects so he looks like he's all wet and in his home environment! I had started using Whisper White, Pretty in Pink and Tempting Turquoise but wasn't sure what other colours to put with them. I popped into SU Colour Combos and it suggested Certainly Celery and Rose Red - I'm quite happy with the effect - what do you think?? I also LOVED Keesh's last sketch so much that I based my layout on that!

Edit #1 - Think I had a senior's moment - having lots of those lately and I'm only 45!!! LOL. Thanx for pointing out that this is a jellyfish Lisa and NOT an octopus!!! Hmmm - think the fact it only has 7 legs would have been a hint!!
Edit #2 - I got the idea for layering the nesties the other way from Jessica Dizon - check out her gorgeous card here. Apologies for not giving her credit earlier - took me a while to remember where I saw it!!

Cuttlebug Be Inspired Challenge #20

WOW - When I saw this sketch I thought I'd be coming up with something soft and feminine! I also thought I'd have heaps of time to get it done - nice and leisurely!!! It's such a gorgeous sketch I'm just going to have to find the time to re-do my card! Or start another one completely!!! I came home from work a bit early today and thought I'd do some stamping. I have been soo busy with visitors and the SCS Bushfire Fundraiser that I haven't had much chance to "play" lately. When I checked out when this sketch was due I realised I was cutting it fine!! It's now Tuesday afternoon my time and the challenge closes at 7pm Monday US time - not sure how my time equates but - aaaagh - off I raced! Unfortunately I had a masculine card I needed to make so I tried to work this challenge with some left over CS from the last Kristina Challenge that I hadn't put away - not sure if I'm happy with the result! I think the Regal Rose is a bit too "pink"! Guess I need to make another masculine card too - LOL. Ah well - need to stamp more to keep my skills up!!! The metallic strip is some metallic tape I trimmed, scalloped and embossed. If you try this you do need to keep the backing tape on otherwise the tape is too soft to hold the embossing. I also think I'm a bit too literal when it comes to sketch challenges - I need to adopt the sketch as my own and not try to stick to it too closely - live and learn!


CS - Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Brocade Blue and Regal Rose
SU - Felt Fusion Flowers and Botannical Blooms stamp set

The SU Retiring Products List

WOW - what a lot of lovely items are going to be gone for good at the end of March - if not before!! If you haven't already seen the retiring products list check it out here.

Note that there are some sets on sale for 25% and 50% off original prices!! Just be aware that these items are only WHILE STOCK LAST!! I have been amazed that there are already 11 items no longer available, and the list hasn't even been out for 24 hours!!! Please make sure you place your order ASAP if there's anything on the list you really have to have!