More Summertime From Simply Betty Stamps

With only a month left of Winter here in Australia our thoughts are turning to the warmer weather ahead. This fabulous image from Simply Betty Stamps certainly helps to forget the heater is on. This cool dude is Christian from the Summer Emo Digi collection and can be found in store HERE. These digis are currently on sale so it's a GREAT time to pop over and pick him and some of his friends up!

The letters and flower I've used were cut using one of my cuttlebug alphas. I haven't used them for a while and had forgotten how much fun they were - and they also add such impact to a simple layout! My DP is from my Kaisercraft Utopia paper pad.

xXx

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #51 - Embossing

This week's challenge at Magnolia Down Under is to use embossing somewhere on your creation. This can be dry embossing or heat embossing so there's lots of opportunity to play along.

I've seen a lot of white on white cards lately and used them for my inspiration - I wanted the embossing and my Tilda to be the stars. I've used 2 different cuttlebug folders for my card - Swiss Dots and Script. It's a bit hard to see the script - I used my largest circle nestie to cut a shape out and then embossed before adding some stickles around the edge. The flowers are arranged around the edge of this cirlce. I've used stickles on the edges of a most of my white pieces to define their shapes - boy does this card sparkle - LOL. A bit of lace and a couple of little butterflies add some more textural interest.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the amazing inspiration the DT has provided for you HERE - these gals always amaze with with their talent. Hope you get a chance to join us too.

xXx

Mo's Challenge #18 - It's All About Colours...

... and the colours for this week's challenge over at Mo's Challenges are pink, red and white - and include a heart! Now I just LOVE this fairy - she was one of the first of Mo's images I bought - and I figured she would look adorable in these colours. I wish you could see this IRL - I have her wings all glittered up - and the hearts are too! And a bit of sparkle on the roses makes the whole card look magical - perfect for this fantasy gal!

I must apologise for being a little MIA these past couple of days too - my DH is off tomorrow on a last minute business trip so there's some last minute schtuff to do - and my week at work was - well - I'm just glad I've resigned! I also took DH to the ACDC concert on Thursday night - we went with some wonderful friends and had a great time - a rock concert is a great stress reliever, especially after a pre concert drink or two - LOL!!! I'm not a HUGE ACDC fan - but DH is - so seeing him enjoying himself was fabulous.

Anyhooooo - gotta go finish helping with the packing - sorry for the short and sweet post!!!

xXx

Mo's Challenge #14 and Colour Create Challenge #36

This week's challenge over at Mo's Digital Pencil is a fabulous sketch by Lisa Cook. I chose this gorgeous little gal called Sophie to use and coloured her in with some new Copics I bought from some silly gal who decided to sell them off. She's decided water colouring is her medium of choice - and I must admit she does it beautifully - HI KRISTY - see I'm using them - LOL.

The colours have been chosen by the Colour Create Challenge which is Kraft, Blue and White - colours I just adore together! Add in the option of using texture and playing along with this challenge was a no brainer for me!

All the CS, ribbon and DPs are from Stampin' Up while the flowers are a mix of Bizzy Bec's (The gorgeous Kraft coloured gardenia) and layered Kaisercraft flowers. The Digital Ticket sentiment is from Bizzy Bec's Digital Store - these are just fabulous as you can print them any size you need and there are sooo many phrases to choose from in each set!

Hope you find time to do some Krafting this weekend - pardon my silly pun - LOL!

xXx

A Boxing Day Birthday!

I've had the pleasure of having some family from England staying with us for Christmas and the New Year - and to add to the celebrations my niece also celebrated her 19th birthday with us on Boxing Day (Dec.26th). As we were heading off to Phillip Island to see the Fairy Penguins - a local park where the wild penguins come in from the sea every evening to their burrows! - her mum asked if I could make her a birthday card with penguins on! I had these gorgeous penguins from Angel's Landing already so what could be easier!

We had a FABULOUS night but as you aren't allowed to take photos I don't have any to show you! You used to be able to photograph the penguins without flash but unfortunately too many people ignored this rule and there had to be a blanket ban on cameras!!! Why do the few ruin things for sooo many others????

Back to the card... Unknown to me I also managed to use my niece's football team colours - blue and white - am I a good aunt or what - LOL! The penguin on the RHS is popped up for some added dimension. The fabulous leaves are from Bizzy Becs while the flower was a find at my local scrapbook shop. For some birthday sparkle I added some stickles to the background panel which I had already cuttlebugged. More stickles went onto the flower edges.

I also made a card to give my niece from my family - it's a CASE of a this card I made for my daughter's friend's 18th. I LOVE this digital fairy from The Greeting Farm - Mainly because I love the way you can layer the flower for extra dimension. She's also a perfect choice for teenage girls! The last time I coloured her I made her have black hair - but I reckon she looks pretty good as a blonde too! Once again I've sparkled her wings and flower up with dazzling diamonds.

Now I'm about to head off to bed before a packed day tomorrow - NEW YEAR'S EVE - aaaagh - a new DECADE is nearly upon us! I hope you ALL have a FABULOUS night and that the year ahead brings you lots of fun, laughs and STAMPING - LOL.

xXx

Magnolia Challenge #29 - Stamp with Another Use

How often do you want to enter a challenge but don't have the exact right stamp for the job!!! Well this is the challenge for you! At Magnolia Down Under Challenges this week we are asking you to think outside the box and find a use for one of your Magnolia stamps that is different to the use it was designed for. Here I have used an Easter stamp to make a baby card. Or you could use a Christmas stamp for a birthday card - do you get the idea??? If you're still not sure pop over the see what amazing examples the wonderful MDUC team has come up with to inspire you.

As it's Christmas in only a few more sleeps this challenge will be open until January 17th - when the next challenge will be up. We also have THREE fabulous prizes on offer - check them out HERE.

All CS for my card is SU. The DP is from Magnolia and available at Kellie's Magnolia Down Under Store. The flowers are from Bizzy Becs own range - and they are GORGEOUS. I must say it was FANTASTIC having the chance to play with my stamps after the forced break I've had - it has done my mood the world of good - I'm now ready to face Christmas head on - LOL. Thanx for all your well wishes about my stresses of the past week - I'm putting them behind me until I return to work at the end of January - life is toooo short to waste time on negativity!

xXx

Basic Grey Christmas!

It seems to me that the Christmas craziness has begun early this year - the week's seem to be racing ahead and there's sooo much to do!! I saw my DD off to schoolies today, have a weekend of stamping away coming up - and relatives arriving for Christmas in less than 2 weeks - aaagh!!! I think the one sanity in my life is my crafting!!! And since it's Wednesday today I get to play over at The Stamp Spot Blog - LOL.

Have you noticed - NO COLOURING!! And virtually NO STAMPING either!!! But with these gorgeous Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses papers it would be silly NOT to make them the feature event! I love these papers sooo much I picked up the whole paper pad from The Stamp Spot Online Store early on! This little village scene is soo cute, and combine it with the cuttlebug ornaments embossing folder it makes a fairly quick and easy card - which still has a bit of a wow factor! So remember to look at your DPs as main images and not just for backgrounds - and with all the fabulous papers Marcia has instore at The Stamp Spot I'm sure there's something for everyone!! The snowflake is a Spellbinders die - I'm just LOVING this die!!

xXx

The Greeting Farm's New Digis

Last week The Greeting Farm released a fabulous collection of digital fairies - and I think I had mine within a few hours - LOL. My daughter's BF recently turned 18 and I knew I wanted this beautiful fairy to put on her card. The big party was last Saturday night, once all the final exams were done. The party's theme was "white" and one of her favourite colours is purple - so I had all the elements in place! All I needed now was a layout - soo I went and visited Mojo Monday and used their sketch #113 - the sketch for last week.

I really wanted to layer the flower so I used 3 flowers and which I coloured, cut and shaped - before glittering the edges and layering them up. A large pearl in the middle finished it off. I also coated the wings in Dazzling Diamonds for extra sparkle - what's a fairy without sparkle??? With the flower being the focal point I really didn't want to add to much other embellishment - so have finished up with quite a clean card. A bit of Cuttlebug embossing and some chipboard numbers and I was done.

xXx

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #26 - A Sketch

This fortnight Kellie has a sketch for us and I thought "Great - I LOVE sketches!!" Unfortunately I think my mojo has gone on an early Christmas vacation and I had all sorts of bother getting this done for my deadline!!

I had planned to use my card to send to an 11 year old American girl who survived a home invasion by 4 teenagers who killed her mother and left her for dead - you can read her story and about the wonderful drive to send cards to Jaimie HERE. Unfortunately as my mood deteriorated with my lack of success my card got darker and darker and I have decided NOT to send this one to Jaimie - but I do have another one I made recently that I will send. However, I still wanted to get her story out there in case you too wanted to help out! You can forward your card to the address below...

The DP I used for the background is from Magnolia's Yummy range and is available at the Magnolia Down Under Store. I ended up with one of my favourite older Tildas and lots of cuttlebug embossed panels. I'm still not happy with the final card - but my family liked it and I am sure it's only the preceeding frustrations that have left me unsure of it!

In the meantime I'm sure the rest of the MDUC DT have come up with some fabulous inspiration for you - check them out HERE. Our wonderful sponsor for this challenge is Kellie with a $10 voucher for the Magnolia Down Under Store!

Wish me luck trying to convince my mojo to come home - LOL.

xXx

Lisa's 50th - A Month Long Celebration Begins!!!

Do you ever have one of those things stuck in your brain that you are SOOOO sure is right - and then you find out you're WRONG when it's too late!?!?!?! Well that's what I did with my gorgeous friend Lisa's Birthday! Lisa and I have never met - except through the keyboard of our computers and blogs - but she has become a dear friend is such a short time! And she "let" it slip that this year she has a milestone birthday coming up. I popped on facebook and checked out the date - and then remembered it ALL WRONG!!! I sent this to Lisa to arrive for the end of October - unfortunately her birthday isn't for another month - OOOPS!!! I did email her as soon as I realised to tell her to put her Aussie arrival away when it got there but I was tooo late!!!

Lisa has graciously forgiven me and tells me she now has an excuse to start her birthday celebrations early - you go girl!!!

I made this card for her and was then told by my kids that it was too young for a 50 year old - I tried to explain that being 50 didn't mean you couldn't be full of youthful fun and sent it anyway!!! Luckily Lisa loved it so I'm glad I didn't listen to the kids!!!

I've used another gorgeous Mo Manning image and coloured her in blues and yellows - such a fresh colour combo! I've sparkled her wings up as well as popping some glitter on the petals of the largest flower and the sentiment - it looks soo sparkly IRL - just like Lisa!! Some Cuttlebugged "bubbles" for the background, the number 50 and the yellow sizzix swirls and she was ready to send off!!!

Now to remember to wish Lisa a Happy 50th on the RIGHT day - LOL - but in the meantime...

Happy start to your 50th birthday celebrations Lisa!!!!

xXx

Marcia's Challenge for The Stamp Spot DT Continues!

As I told you a couple of weeks ago Marcia sent her DT some fun new products to play with and this week I've used some of the gorgeous Felt Ribbon - this is the Raspberry but it does come in other colours - check them out HERE. It went beautifully with this wonderful Basic Grey DP from the Indian Summer series. The muted tones mixed with the pink gives you a lot of scope to play with other colours - so I went with Chocolate Chip - LOL.

My image is one of the adorable gals from Inky Impressions - Angelica's Heart Socks. These images are just gorgeous and have sooo much detail in them - but once you add some colour to her eyes she seems to just come alive. I've used my nesties and cuttlebug embossing folders to create the "frame" for Angelica to sit in - she looked a little lost popped up on the felt ribbon. But I did find a home for a little felt offcut at the top of the frame - it just seemed to tie everything together. Some rhinesones and pearls were added for a little bit of bling.

The sentiment is from SU but all the rest can be found at The Stamp Spot Online Store.

The glue is probably still drying as I post this as I'm a bit behind today!!! Hope I'm better organised next week for my Stamp Spot Day!!!

xXx

Boys Will Be Boys

I've gone with a fairly simple card this week for my day at The Stamp Spot - it's been a little crazy in my part if the world! The senior high school students are finishing up and I both have a daughter in year 12 and I work at a High School - so "muck up" week is here big time for me - LOL.

I have decided to go back to a more innocent age - my son's! He has a number of friends turning 11 and 12 so I thought I could use this for one of them. I think Skater Ian is perfect for a boy's card - and mixed with bold colours and cuttlebug embossing he looks fabulous. I do have a confession - I cut the wheels off his skateboard by mistake - so he's now sporting ones made of buttons - hope he doesn't mind - LOL. The fabulous DP I've used is from Cosmo Cricket's The Boyfriend range and it called Driver's Ed - how perfect for this image!

I just had to use a Greeting Farm stamp this week as Marcia has just received some brand new ones instore - check them out here. And don't forget her marvellous paper sale, new embellishments and other fabulous new stamps!

Don't forget to stop in and check out what the rest of the fabulous The Stamp Spot DT have been up to too.

xXx

More Greeting Farm for The Stamp Spot to Celebrate the Launch of Anya Ink

This week I was going to move away from The Greeting Farm stamps and play with something different for My Stamp Spot DT day - but with Marcia and Tracey launching the first challenge on Anya Ink last Sunday I just HAD to use one - apart from the fact I love them!!!

This fabulous image was sent to me by my fellow Stamp Spot DT member, the lovely Sue - thanx Sue! I also wanted to use this gorgeous Poppy DP by SEI that Marcia sent me - check out the range at The Stamp Spot store here. I've used a strip of the reverse side near the bottom of the card, with a thin strip of Not Quite Navy CS on top. I used some thin double sided tape to attach the blue strip - but it was slightly wider than the CS - the solution - tip some glitter on the excess glue for a bit of sparkle!

The finishing touches involve nestabilities and cuttlebug embossing folders - both available from Marcia - the nesties do need to be pre-ordered though.

This afternoon I am heading out with my daughter to go shopping for an outfit for each of us for her graduation dinner later this month - I can't believe she's nearly finished High School!!! It will be a proud moment for her ol' mum and dad with her having to give a speech too - as outgoing College Vice Captain. She's been an amazing girl to bring up - just hope her brother is as easy through the High School years - LOL

xXx

More Mo and a Blogaversary!!!

I've had this gorgeous digital image coloured up for a few days now - just haven't had the chance to put her together!!! I had sooo many plans for these school holidays and haven't managed to do half of them - doing nothing but relaxing for the past couple of days hasn't helped - LOL. And it's back to the reality of school and work tomorrow - noooooooo!!!

I was reminded to use her though when Mo Manning - her wonderful creator!! - announced that some of the more popular Mo images are soon to be released as REAL STAMPS by Stampavie - GREAT news for those of you who don't like digis! This image - Rae with Journal - is one of the new stamps available for pre-order here.


Now onto the Blogaversary news...

I have been soo caught up in all sorts of things lately that I COMPLETELY forgot to check out my 1st blogaversay countdown! I knew it was coming up and had been squirelling away bits and pieces for a Blogaversary Candy - but haven't completed it yet!!! Thanx sooo much to 2 lovely comments from Sue Fitz and Teena from Toronto for wishing me a Happy Blogaversary and reminding me it was here!!!!

Soooooo - bear with me and I'll announce some belated Candy soon!

xXx

Do You Want to Come and Play!

This October I'm going to be doing a special workshop at the Ringwood Library here in Melbourne called The Christmas Table. I was originally asked to just run the card and tag workshop, but the lady who was doing the boxes has had to withdraw - so I'm doing that workshop too.

I wanted the card to be something with a bit of WOW that wouldn't cost me too much to put together - and this is what I came up with! Cuttlebugging some cardstock adds such a WOW and will hopefully also be fun for those who have never seen my wonderful green machine in action. The card was inspired by the wonderful recessed window cards that Tracey Old did here - they may not be the easiest to do but they do have that WOW factor I was after - and I figured it would be more fun for me to teach something a little different! I have also done a couple of other samples to show how you can achieve different looks without the cuttlebug.

I haven't quite worked out what I'll be doing for the box class - but check out the flyer below if you're interested in coming along - or email me for details! It's a GREAT bargain at only $5 per workshop or $12 for all 3!!!!

xXx

Miss Anya's Wednesday Visit to The Stamp Spot

I love my Miss Anya's and this one is fast becoming a favourite. I was going to pair her with the gorgeous little cow from TGF McSplendid Farm - I thought she could be a little milk maid! - but unfortunately I just couldn't get it to work for me.

I had these strips of October Afternoon DP from The Stamp Spot and they just seemed to work in with the colours I had used for Miss Anya (from the Miss Anya Dressy set). I also think it's great to show how such a small bit of great DP can lift a card!!! I layered Miss Anya onto some Rose Red CS and then onto some Chocolate Chip CS that I had cuttlebug embossed in the left hand corner - I wanted the rest "flat". It's a fairly simple layout but hopefully the recipient will like it!

Marcia has cuttlebug embossing folders, The Greeting Farm stamps, October Afternoon DP and Kaiser Rhinestones all available at The Stamp Spot Online Store. The rest are from SU or my stash.

xXx

Creatalicious Challenge #2 - Burgundy, Pink, Green and some Lace

When I saw the requirements for this month's challenge over at Creatalicious Challenges I knew I would have to find the time to play along! For starters the colour combo is just delicious - one of my favourites! And then there's the lace element. I'm not much of a lace girl - unless it's paper lace - but I do make machine embroidered lace snowflakes to give as Christmas gifts - and I thought why not pop one on my card and see how it looks!!! Well I'm happy with the result and now have to make up more to give away! I do have a couple with stitches missing that will now be relegated to my card making - LOL.

If you're interested I got the pattern for these from my favourite embroidery site - Emblibrary - and the link for the snowflakes is here! They are very simple to make if you have an embroidery machine - which I'm glad to say I do!!! You stitch them onto soluble stabiliser and then soak the stabiliser off when you're done - voila, a lace snowflake! AND you can make them in any colour you like!!!

Back to my card - I've used a gorgeous Whiff of Joy stamp and some Basic Grey DP with some Rose Red, Whisper White and Kiwi Kiss CS from Stampin Up. The leaf punch is a McGill punch which I bought from Bizzy Becs. The sentiment is from SU's Best Yet hostess set - this has got to be my favourite sentiment set! A little cuttlebug embossing adds some more texture.

xXx

Ref Rodney Kicks Off at Sunshine's Stamps

The football season is coming to a close here in Australia with the AFL Grand Final on next weekend. In the Northern Hemisphere the football season is just kicking off. Now I can't say I'm a follower of either code - but here in Oz I'm a Blues girl (makes for a harmonious household with DH and DD being Carlton supporters!) at least we made the finals!!! While living in the US we followed the Redskins - kinda a MUST when you're living just outside the Washington DC beltway - LOL.

To celebrate the start of the football season over her way, Sunshine has released this ref called Rodney - he's kicking off the new Sports Stuff line of digital images. There's also a football (American style) called Fumble and a new member of the high flyer series called Jetwash. Check them all out here.

Since Rodney doesn't quite dress like our refs I figured I wouldn't do a football based card - but he does work fabulously for a male's birthday card - especially if it's a milestone one! Here I generated a sentiment to suit on my computer. He's a cute little guy who I'm sure will be showing up on some fabulous layouts!

Here's hoping there's a little Sunshine in your day too...

xXx

Meet Sunshine's Stamps Cledus!

I loved Cledus the first time I saw him - he's one of this week's new releases from Sunshine's Stamps. You can check the other guys out, including coloured up versions - here. I noticed on the coloured up version that poor ol' Cledus has a touch of a rust problem - I loved the look so I gave the poor fella a bit of rust too - LOL. I think Cledus could also do with a visit to a dental truck for those yellowing teeth - he's just sooo much fun!!! I think Cledus is one of those gorgeous characters who makes up for in heart what he lacks in sophistication! He's also the perfect image for a card for a guy who's feeling a little down - or even unwell. Hopefully he'll bring a smile to the recipient's face.

I've paired Cledus with my fabulous new Cuttlebug folder - the perfect choice for these wonderful machines! A fun little sentiment from my computer, some distressing around the images and a few pewter pearls added the finishing touches.

Wishing you all a little Sunshine in your day!

xXx

Kellie's Sketch Challenge #2

Yay - I finally found time to play along with a challenge that's not related to my DT work. Kellie has come up with another fabulous sketch and is offering some cute Motivet stamps as a prize - but hands off - they're MINE - LOL

This cute little baby having all the fun in the fall leaves is a digital stamp from Mo's Digital Pencil. Kellie showed me a couple of Mo's designs at Stamp Camp and I couldn't resist getting a couple for myself. I did colour up one of Kellie's but haven't had time to card it up yet - poor neglected thing!!! The images at Mo's have to be seen to be believed - if you can't find something you LOVE there you're just not looking properly!!!

And don't forget to give Kellie's sketch a go too - you have until midnight Sunday, 30th August - Melbourne Oz time!!!

xXx