Keesh's Inkspiration Sketch Challenge #10

This week's challenge from Keesh is a sketch. I have my FIL's 84th birthday this weekend so decided to use the sketch for a masculine card. I'm also giving you a sneak peek at one of the new sets in the Spring Mini - it's a fabulous set for those gentlemen in your life! Mind you - I can also imagine my Magnolia stamps sitting around with some time - LOL. The set is called A Sense of Time and will be available from August 1st.

I used my Speckled wheel to age some Very Vanilla CS and then stamped my images and sentiment on in Chocolate Chip. The centre of the clocks and cogs have been defined by brads, and the smaller clock is covered with Crystal Effects to give the impression of an old glass cover. I also used my Cuttlebug on some Pumpkin Pie CS and on the faux woodgrain CS. There's also some distressing around the edges of the clock and the main panel. I think texture is fabulous on men's cards!

After I put it all together - which I have discovered you shouldn't do while watching TV!!! - I realised some of my layers aren't quite straight!! My picture is a little skewed too - ah well. I just wish it was my FIL's eyesight and not his hearing that was failing - LOL. My hubby assured me it just added to the "rustic" look!

xXx

Workshop Fun!

I had a wonderful workshop yesterday at my friend Chris' house. I met Chris through being a SU demonstrator - another perk of this job! The sun was streaming in through the windows and the room we were in was full of fun and laughter - making us forget how cold and frosty the morning had been when we headed out for the day!

Most of the ladies were familiar with Stampin' Up and papercrafting so Chris and I decided to make it a real "hands on" day. Everyone went home with a box and a card.

The box was CASE'd from this wonderful tutorial by Laurie Schmidlin on SCS. I changed it slightly by using a smaller square of DP on the top and using a layered scallop medallion for the image. I also added a 3D butterfly - how can I resist it it's sooo cute! Nancy Riley (iStamp) was the inspiration for the medallions with this fabulous tutorial. I made the set of 4 notecards and envelopes as a hostess gift for Chris so she could pop them into her new box!


The girls also made this card - which was inspired by the wonderful Convention swaps I got from Kristy Young and Kellie Winnell - it has elements from both these lovely ladies cards. I'd had a request to use a wheel stamp and find it very hard to go past this one at the moment! It was great to see some wonderful variations on this with the other stamps from the set getting used too - it was a great way to show how SU sets work together soo well.

I also made these 2 chocolate boxes - they had little chocolates and a couple of stamps in. The Chocolate Chip box was a Thank-You gift for Chris and the Real Red one was a door prize.

The video tutorial for these are by Dannie (Dannie's Designs) and can be found here. The only thing I did differently was to use my largest oval nestie for the ovals - I did have to cut a small piece off the end of my strips too.

Stamps sets used - Dreams du Jour, Friends 24-7, Friendly Words Wheel


I had a wonderful day with a lovely group of ladies - so an extra BIG thank you goes out to Chris for organising the day!

xXx

A Step Card - Finally!!

Why have I put the word "finally" into my post title??? Several weeks ago I commented on the wonderful step cards Debbie M over at Hubby's Headache had made - I told her she had inspired me to give them a go!! Well it's taken a bit of time, and an occasional reminder - LOL - but I have FINALLY done one!!! Let me tell you Debbie makes them looks super easy - check out her marvellous creations here.

I confess I struggled with this - I have had this bit of Very Vanilla CS cut and folded for some time! I ended up using the fabulous new release wheel stamp Neighborhood with the Loads of Love and it's accessory set. I've coloured using my SU markers and Blender Pen - not a favourite method of mine so I need the practise - LOL. The DP is from the fabulous Urban Oasis set.

I'm glad I have finally finished this challenge I set myself - but will there be more Step Cards from me??? Your guess is as good as mine - LOL.

xXx

A Friend's Birthday

This card was inspired by the wonderful card Shelli Gardner demonstrated to us at Convention earlier this month. I only recently got the 24-7 set thanx to a very dear friend slipping it into an order I placed with her in the US - my poor hubby came home on Saturday morning with a suitcase full of Stampin' Up - what a guy!!!! I've been itching to ink it up as I just love this set and it was on my wish list. I just LOVED Shelli's design and had to put my spin on it - you can see the original in this post! The wheel stamp I've used is Friendly Words.

This card is for my Convention roomie - Ramona - for her birthday - and also to let her know how great it has been to become her friend! A perfect set to give and receive in friendship!

Happy Birthday Ramona!!!

Chicks Inspiration Challenge - Week 2

Last week my blog buddy Emily suggested I try out the new challenge on the block at Chicks with Inkpads - their name alone gave me a good enough excuse to play - it made me laugh! It has also been soo nice having such great support for our new challenge at MDUC - so this gave me added reason to support this challenge and give it a go.


For my entry I decided I wanted to replicate the table with the artwork hanging above it. It didn't turn out quite like I had it pictured in my head - but I wasn't too unhappy with it. After all - what I imagine I can create is often different to the reality - and the reality can often be better! I used the Live Your Dream set and Scribble wheels to create my look. The "tablecloth" has been embossed with white EP. The Hodge Podge hardware represents the silver bowl on the table and the framed flowers are the pictures on the wall.

I hope your weekend is full of fun - mine has certainly started off that way - it's always good to have a full on belly laugh with the family - even if my silent wheezy laugh is the reason for a lot of it - they call it my "Muttley" laugh!!!

Take care and CYA next time....

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!!

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!

Happy Australia Day!

I just wanted to wish all my Australian visitors a very happy Australia Day!

GO AUSSIE

After posting this gorgeous picture of our Australian Flag I was feeling very patriotic and had an idea for a card. I've only recently bought the Classic Stars wheel and this is the first time I've inked it up - I LOVE it!! I combined it with stars from the Summer Mini set In The Stars. I stamped them in Real Red, popped them on Dimensionals and then coated them with Crystal Effects. Along with the silver star brad - I've used them to signify our wonderful Southern Cross - which is synonymous with all things Aussie - a bit like the Stars and Stripes are for our American friends.

Hopefully this post will work ok - the last one deleted after I hit "publish post" and I had to restart the entire post - aaaaaaaaaagh!!!! Now I'm off to fire up the barbie and have some good Aussie tucker!

KWerner Color Challenge #36

Wow - what a gorgeous colour combo for this week's challenge - I adore these colours together!

A long time ago before I was really into card making - yes, there was such a time LOL - I bought a template to make an odd shaped card and matching envelope. I thought this challenge would give me the opportunity to finally give it a go. It was really easy to use and I'm really happy with the result. The template comes from an Australian company called Amazing Creations and I have linked the page for these on their website for you here.

I used the one called "WeiRd and WaCky LonGish CaRd & EnvelOpe" - what a mouthful!!!! It's great that the template comes with an envelope to match - I'm not sure you'd get the card into a standard envelope!

The central piece is a window and the "flower garden" is actually fixed to the inside of the card. The stamps I've used for the card are the Scribble Jumbo Wheel and a sentiment from Spring Pictograms. I've also used the luscious Flower Fusion felt flowers from the Summer mini , white brads, white Taffeta ribbon and some punches. I also used the same stamps to embellish the envelope.

Oooooops - In my excitement to do this challenge I realise I've used the wrong pink - my humblest apologies - I grabbed Pink Passion instead of the softer Pretty in Pink!!!!

I thought I'd add in this picture of the inside of the card too!

A Couple of Birthday Cards

Last month not only saw me joining Stampin' Up, it also saw me making cards for a couple of birthdays using my wonderful new stamps and cardstock. I discovered I REALLY liked the One of a Kind 3 blossom stamp teamed with the Boho Blossoms Punch from the Spring Mini. I stamped a couple of sets in each colour stamp pad I had onto a sheet of A4 Whisper White and punched away - I didn't have too many colours then! I ended up with a little bowl of flowers that I could reach into to create little gardens on my cards. I have several new stamp pads now and am going to spend an evening stamping and punching out all my new flowers.

This first card was for my friend Deb A. I love texture on card so I used a crimped piece of Whisper White for the background. I then popped some of the Boho Blossoms up on Dimensionals and left some flat. If you use 2 Dimensionals under some of the flowers you can get 3 different levels.

This second card I made for my mum's Birthday. We made last minute plans for dinner and I only had a few hours to buy her present and make a card. I delved into my bowl of blossoms and Voila - and my mum loved it! The whisper White background was also stamped using another favourite of mine - the Jumbo So Swirly Wheel. I rollered on Versamark and then used a glittery embossing powder I've had in the cupboard for years. It just gave the card the right amount of Bling. This piece of card was actually a leftover piece from the boxes I made for my daughter and her friends to celebrate their Debutante Ball.

My First Card!

Well here it is - my First Card posted - and look how it matches the colours I've chosen for my blog - must be "me" colors!!!! I used an idea for this card from a similar one designed by Stephanie Pike - hers was gorgeous in gray, red and black. The leaves are coloured in using a blender pen and inks, and the Not Quite Navy circle is set on Dimesionals to "give it a lift". I also textured the edges of my rectangular pieces by roughing them up with my thumbnail - a very hand tool, and cheap - lol!!!

Stamps - Artfully Asian, Think Happy Thought, Watercolor Vine Jumbo Wheel, Always (small flower)

Cardstock - Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Sky Blue, Whisper White and, by mistake!, the 3/4" circle was cut from Not Quite Navy instead of Blue Bayou - but I like the look!
Ink - Blue Bayou
Punches - Scallop, 1/2" Circle, 3/4" Circle, 1 1/4" Circle and 1 3/8" Circle
Accessories - SNAIL adhesive, dimensionals, Blender Pen