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 Down Under Christmas Swap

A few months ago Boss Lady Kellie came up with a fabulous idea for the Magnolia Down Under DT - we were invited to join in a Christmas card swap! The AMAZING creations that landed in my letterbox just blew me away - I knew these lovely lady's were talented but to see their work IRL has been incredible - I am honoured to be in their company! I am going to make myself an inspiration wall with these after I frame them up - a job for the New Year!

 I also received some other gorgeous handmade cards and email Christmas wishes from other wonderful blogging friends - and for that I thank everyone - it has made my Christmas extra special this year!!! I hadn't blogged these earlier as I wanted to make sure the girls had all got theirs - but I thought I'd better blog them now or the Festive Season would be well and truly over - LOL!

A few weeks before Christmas I found these gorgeous wooden snowflakes in a little gift shop! My imagination took over and I knew I would use them for the swaps! I bought 3 different colours and decorated them with a layered snowflake, Christmas Tilda, some rhinestones and a ribbon bow! Now to make the card to go with them.....

I decided to re-size the "box and a card" I made here to create a card and packaging in one, the top opens up to be the card. I'm really happy with how it turned out - though there were a few frustrations along the way getting the drawer to fit just right!

Here you can see Tilda snuggled up in the drawer on some bubble wrap for the journey to her new home!

The handle for the drawer was a build-a-brad and I popped some Magnolia DP behind the bubble. The stamps, DP and gorgeous red lace ribbon all came from Kellie over at Magnolia Down Under Online Store. The CS and taffeta ribbon is from Stampin' Up. I used SU's chunky glitter on the large snowflake and Dazzling Diamonds over some liquid applique on the hat band and pom pom. I use a mix of Touch and Copic markers to colour!

I can't believe another year is almost done! I hope everyone is getting over their overindulgences of Christmas and are readying themselves for a new celebration to see in not only a New Year but a New DECADE!!! Have a safe and happy one.....

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

Another Christmas CASE

Before I give you all the information about my card I must apologise for being MIA lately. My posts last week were scheduled as I was away showing our English family the beautiful scenery of the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians. I then came home to a week of stress and upset at work - not knowing if I would have a job next year and then not knowing if I WANTED to take the position on offer! I've had sleepless nights and been up emailing work at 5am. And then there's trying to finish off the Christmas shopping before the kids finish school for the Summer today. With all of this I haven't had the energy to craft or to visit you lovely people out there - so please bear with me - I can smell the ink pads beckoning and feel the need for some down time with my stamps! The joy of seeing the AMAZING work others have been up too is also on my "To Do" list!

Now onto my card. When I was at Stamp Camp a few weeks ago the lovely and talented Kristy Young asked me if I had seen THIS amazing snow globe card made by the always inspiring Kirsty Brown! When she showed it to me I was itching to get home and CASE it - I knew exactly who to give it to - it was PERFECT. The video tutorial for these is HERE. I did add some Glycerine (usually available at Health Food shops) to the water as it makes the liquid more viscous and the particles are suspended longer - sorry - a hint of my Science background there - LOL.

I made 2 "globes" but did have one leak a little - so I did secure the seam with some Pritt Power Gel - I think I got some water on the adhesive on the one that leaked! I have also been wanting to try a double bow with my new Bow Easy - and it turned out not too bad! I think lighter ribbons may work better though - or more practice - LOL.

All supplies are SU except the digital ticket stamp from Bizzy Becs, the embossing folder I used under the ribbon and the holly leaf punch.

I'm not sure how often I'll be posting over the next couple of weeks so in the meantime I'd like to wish each and every one of you an AMAZING Christmas and nothing but good things for 2010! Thanx for all of your support and inspiration in 2009 - you guys make blogging SUCH a rewarding experience!!!

xXx

A Christmas CASE

Recently I saw a stunning Christmas card made by Cheryl Joshua at My Card Making Heaven using a Monday Mojo sketch and a Christmas wreath. Not long after seeing this card I found this wonderful snowflake wreath stamp by Hero Arts and knew I wanted to use it to CASE Cheryl's card. I used my SU markers to add some different greens to the stamp and used a SU sentiment across the middle. Some red, green and clear rhinestones make it sparkle!

I did this CASE from memory so missed a few of the layout elements - but then I didn't want it to be exactly the same as Cheryl's either. Inspiration from other talented bloggers is at such a high standard - and I have sooo many ideas tucked away for use someday. Thanx to everyone out there who inspires me everyday - and that's NOT just to crafters - I get inspiration from many different people in many different ways!

Take care

xXx

A Magnolia Down Under DT Challenge - Jodie

Kellie from the Magnolia Down Under Online Store had a fun idea recently - she has asked each member of her DT to take turns to come up with a challenge for the rest of the DT. Our very first challenger is the amazingly talented Jodie Turner who asked us to use our new Christmas stamps to create a Christmas invitation. We each receive a different stamp in out DT kit from Kellie and we have to use our own stamp on our project!!! I chose the Christmas envelope for my kit - I already had most of the other cuties on order - LOL. I have layered some of the holly leaves and the bow - it really does look better IRL. The holly berries have red rhinestones on for some fun sparkle.

The invite was made by stamping the sentiment (from SU's Sincere Salutations) onto some Whisper White CS before running it through my script embossing folder. I sponged the edges and over the raised script before rolling the corners over. The gorgeous DP is from Magnolia - I just love the texture and feel of this paper - it's soo easy to work with! The lace is also Magnolia - and trust me it's gorgeous!!!

All of my Magnolia supplies came from Kellie at Magnolia Down Under.

If you want to check out the rest of the DT's work here are the links to their blogs....
Debra
Jodie
Kellie
Kristy
Stephanne
Tracey

xXx

Hippo Birthday to You!

It's Wednesday again and that means it's my turn to post a DT card over at The Stamp Spot Blog. Today I've used this cute image from Stampavie - Lelo Designs, Hippo Birthday. I've coloured him in with my markers basing the colours on the We R Memory Keepers DP that is perfect for boys - it was almost a shame to cover some of the fun images up. I've used my diamond plate embossing folder on the blue CS - I LOVE this folder for boy's cards! I also distressed the edges a bit as I don't know any little boy who is super neat all the time - LOL.

The stamp, DP, buttons, cuttlebug folder and nestabilities are all available from Marcia at The Stamp Spot Online Store - although the nesties do need to be pre-ordered and are currently listed at 15% off!

I can't believe Christmas is soo close - I still have sooo much to do - so apologies for this being short and sweet! I hope you are all enjoying the festive season - but not toooo much - LOL!!!

xXx

Some Christmas Decorations

While I was at Stamp Camp - gosh was it really over a week ago now!!!! - I was talking to the lovely Annette about some of the other crafting I do. I mentioned I had held a painting class recently - and she wanted to know what I painted. These are a few of my light globe Christmas decorations - a great way to recycle burnt out light globes! I made my first one back in 1999 and gave one to my son's teacher for Christmas. The next yearI had orders for over 100 personalised decorations - aaaaagh!! I had a real production line going that year - LOL. They have been great for presents over the years and I've had friends from all over saving me light globes - I even had someone turn up with a car brake light globe in case I wanted that!!!! Do you KNOW how TINY they are - LOL. They are starting to phase these type of globes out here in Australia - so I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to make them!

Apologies for the shine on the photos - they have been finished with varnish so are fairly reflective. I did try some with matt varnish but I much prefer the high gloss.

My recent class painted the Rudolph - who was co-designed by my sister Sharon and myself! When I ran my recent class I got the girls to try out foam sheets for the antlers - they are easy to cut and much sturdier that the felt I used here.

The snowman's hat is a polystyrene cup that has been shrunk in the oven like shrinky plastic - if you try this be aware it melts quickly and can produce toxic fumes if you cook it too long!!!

I hope you enjoyed a little look into some of the other stuff I do. And now Annette will be able to understand what I was talking about - LOL.

xXx

Personalised Stamps Arrive at Magnolia Down Under

NEW Stamps at Magnolia Down Under Store…

Kellie is really, Really, REALLY excited to offer you personalised stamps at Magnolia Down Under! These stamps are really popular and are great for personalising your work. When Kellie took hers to stamp camp, everyone loved them and wanted to order one for themselves so she thought "why not stock them myself"! Kellie doesn't muck about and has been speaking with Lisbet from Scrapmagasinet who has made the samples in the store HERE… these stamps are made and delivered from Norway but Kellie's designs are in English. Here is a couple of examples of what's on offer…

Plus MORE, so be sure to check them out HERE…. Please be sure to read all the details on the stamp listing.
**PLEASE NOTE : That you can't order these as Christmas presents as they will not arrive on time.**
 
xXx

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #28 - Bedazzled

This fortnight's challenge over at Magnolia Down Under is "Bedazzled"  - feel free to go crazy with crystal effects, dazzling diamonds, glitter, rhinestones etc - anything you like to bedazzle your project! I found this gorgeous Christmas ornament at my local shopping centre and thought it would be the perfect base for this challenge! With the frosted glass and silver glitter spots it looked fabulous as it was - but add in a glittery poinsettia flower and leaves, a big red bow and Tilda unwrapped and I'm loving the result. I added some crystal stickle spots to the wrapping paper and some red stickles to the ribbon in Tilda's hair!

Luckily I managed to get her whipped up at last weekend's camp - so for once I was ahead of schedule - LOL. Now just to get the Christmas tree up and pop her on!

Don't forget to pop over to the MDUC blog and check out the rest of the DT's amazing inspiration for you - I got a sneak peak and there are some AMAZING creations on show!!! And check out this gorgeous stamp that Kellie and her Magnolia Down Under Store is kindly giving away to the winner of this challenge - she's adorable!!!

xXx

More Stamp Camp Fun

Apart from being wonderful company the girls at last weekend's Stamp Camp are also fabulous and inspiring crafters. I was very lucky to have the lovely Alison at my table - and she managed to produce close to 60 amazing projects for a stall she's having this Friday!!!!! She certainly stunned us all with her fabulous work. One of the items she made was a cute card/box. Alison got the tutorial for this from Dawn Rapsas at UStamp and we were lucky to convince her to have a break from her pile of projects and teach us too.

To make mine I used the gorgeous Tilda Wrapped stamp from this year's Magnolia Christmas collection. Kellie from Magnolia Down Under turned up to camp with my order - it was like Christmas opening up my parcel and having a play! The DP and flower are also Magnolia - from Kellie's store - although she's still waiting on the flowers to arrive for sale - this was from a sample pack she gave her DT. I have used a touch of red stickles in the flower centre for a bit of glitter and colour - it looks much better IRL!!!

The top of the box opens up and becomes the card - I've stamped a SU Christmas tree on the inside leaving space to write a note too. The little drawer came in handy too. I came home from camp with a pile of punched snowflakes and other goodies tucked away safely inside. It was sooo much fun playing with other people's tools - my Bow Easy (Bowezi) caused a lot of fun and giggles thanx to Kristy and Kellie - the terrible twosome - LOL

I loved this little box soo much I worked on resizing it to fit a project I was working on for a gift - I'll show you that when I can!

Hope all your Christmas plans and shopping aren't causing you too much stress!!!

xXx

Fun and Funky Wednesday at The Stamp Spot

This is my second post for today - be sure to scroll down to check out Lisa's fabulous birthday blog candy - she has 5 prize packs on offer....

Now onto today's card - it's my Wednesday card for The Stamp Spot...

Last week I bought this gorgeous limited edition 80's Anya from The Stamp Spot Store and I just had to ink her up straight away. I love the cute legwarmers and off the shoulder top - a look I never mastered myself in the 80s so will finally master it now in ink - LOL. I chose this fabulous Bo Bunny Kitchen Spice DP to go with her - the combination is fun and funky and suits the 80's look - but would also look fab in many other layouts- I love stripes and checks!!!! Some gorgeous embroidered ribbon, rhinestones, doily and flowers embellish the final card.


All supplies are from The Stamp Spot Online Store except the CS - which is from SU.

Sorry this is a short post - the silly season is upon us and I have a mountain of things to do before I can get the Christmas tree set up!!! It was actually fun to make something that wasn't for Christmas for a change - LOL.

Take care - and I'm hoping to find some time soon to catch up on my bloghopping too - it's such a crazy time of year!!!

xXx

Lisa's Amazing Blog Candy!!!

My lovely friend Lisa at The Craft's Meow is celebrating her 50th birthday and giving YOU the chance to win one of 5 fabulous prize packs - that's one for every decade she's been alive! Check it out HERE.

It's simple to enter and I'll leave a link on my side bar too - you have until 11:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time on Sunday, December 13, 2009. Lisa will announce the winners on Tuesday, December 15th.

Good luck to all and HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!!!

xXx

Magnolia Ink Magazine Pre-Order

Kellie has just opened up the pre-orders for the second issue of the fabulous Magnolia Ink Magazine! The first one was full of wonderful inspiration and ideas - mine has been thumbed through several times now! And don't forget the template for my gingerbread house came from there too! The last issue sold out quickly so make sure you pop over to the Magnolia Down Under Store and pre-order your issue so you don't miss out!

PLEASE NOTE : This is a pre-order only - they are not available till January 2010 from Magnolia  - please keep this in mind when placing your order.

xXx

Christmas Can Be a Cracker

A couple of weeks ago I was shopping with a friend and came across a really cute Christmas cracker made by Jessica Walker Chocolates. It came with a chocolate inside. I saw the potential and decided to buy it - much to my daughter's surprise when I got home and she exclaimed "You paid $3.95 for ONE chocolate!!!" I quickly explained she was welcome to the chocolate - I wanted the box as a template - LOL. I can thank the lovely Karen Thomas from Luv to Stamp for teaching me to look at packaging and it's potential. A friend recently thought I was a little odd when I raced to KFC to buy some Popcorn Chicken for the box after seeing Karen's fabulous project - LOL - check it out here. Of course my popcorn chicken box is hiding somewhere in my crafting space waiting to be used as a template - but I know it's there when I want it!!!

I took the empty cracker off to Stamp Camp on the weekend - it was actually made in 2 parts but I wanted to simplify it and make it from a single piece of card. I've worked out the dimensions for you if you want to make one for yourself - yours will work out a tiny bit larger as I wanted to make the measurements a bit easier to follow!

To decorate mine I used DP and lace from Magnolia - available at Kellie's Magnolia Down Under Store. The tag is one of Bizzy Becs new Digital Tickets available at Bec's new Digi Downloads Store. The CS is from Stampin Up - Kraft and Real Red. The flowers were from a local craft store.

Now here are the measurements for you - feel free to contact me if they don't make sense! The great thing about these Crackers is that you can open then up easily without tearing them by simply untying the ribbon bows in the valleys!

Cut your card 7" x 5"

Across the 5" edge score at 3/4", 1 1/2", 2 1/4", 3", 3 3/4", 4", 4 1/2"

Across the 7" edge score at 1", 1 5/8", 2 1/4", 4 3/4", 5 3/8", 6"

Embellishments as desired.

Use the shaded areas on this picture to work out where to remove CS. For the triangles I cut from halfway up the middle score line in the section - this doesn't need to be acurate and I just pencilled mine in - it's where the cracker folds in. This score line is also the only one to be a valley fold - the rest are all mountain folds. The line across the top with the rectangles removed is the tab for the join.

I hope you have some fun with these - I will be looking forward to seeing yours - please let me know if you make one!

Now I better go feed the hungry hordes and have an early night!! Stamp Camp was sooo much fun but I had waaayyyy to little sleep - it was a little hard concentrating at work today - LOL. I do have more fun things I made at camp to show you - but some of them are DT work so will have to wait a little!!!

Hope you all had a FANTASTIC weekend too...

Edit - When Bec saw this she realised she had the sentiment wrong - I certainly hadn't noticed had you??? This one says "the means you" instead of "that means you". She has since corrected it and re-sent it to all those who had already bought this set! So if you had noticed the mistake don't let it put you off buying these fabulous digital tickets.

xXx

Sorry Guys!!!!

I just wanted to let you know I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth - LOL. I have family arriving from overseas in a week and have been trying to get ready. I have also been madly organising myself for a weekend away at Stamp Camp - yahoooooo!!! I'm heading off in about an hour!

Hopefully I'll have some fun projects to show you next week - I know I'll be cleaning and moving beds then too - AND work has asked me to put in extra time (noooooo!!!) - so am hoping to get a HEAP of crafting done this weekend!!

Take care and I'll be back soon....

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 #27 - Something for Christmas

This week's challenge over at Magnolia Down Under Challenges has been a bit of fun - to make something for Christmas! Now don't get scared off - it CAN be a card! I had an idea for this Gingerbread House when I received my first edition of Magnolia Ink Magazine from The Magnolia Down Under Online Store! In the magazine there was a tutorial for an adorable birdhouse - I have basically just adapted that tutorial to make this! The major differences are that I haven't cut out the bird house "hole" and I've made the flap fold up about 1/2" below the top of the roof - so I didn't have to put a bend in poor Santa's tooshie - OUCH! It's a fairly simple box - I am very tempted to make another more elaborate one - but I was running out of time! I think a few chockies in here and it will make a great little gift for someone!

You may be wondering HOW Santa ended up HAVING a tooshie - LOL. I used a very pale pink inkpad - SU's Pink Pirouette - and my mirror image stamp to stamp Santa in reverse onto some Whisper White CS. I then free hand pencilled in Santa's back view before going over it with my Copic liner and colouring him in. I really wanted him sitting on the roof top and just couldn't come up with another background I liked to cover his back! He's sandwiched together at the top with the front of Santa and just split over the pitch of the roof.

I also made the little wreath for the front door. I punched a ring out using my 1/2" and 3/4" circle punches. The fronds were the tips off the fern punch. I used 3 different tones of green and some mini red and clear rhinestones for decoration. I've added a white pearl for a door handle too.

The mini white ric rac was found at the Paperific show last weekend - perfect!!! I punched the "lollies" out of some 2007 Cosmo Cricket DP I had - using 1 in a build-a-brad for the handle of the box - the brad was fed through a bead to before being fixed so that it sat up a bit. A magnetic clasp holds the lid shut. The roof DP is from Kaiser.

Now off you go to check out what the rest of the MDUC DT has made to inspire you. And thanx to Kellie for sponsoring the challenge with this gorgeous stamp for our winner...hmmmmm - wonder if I can enter under another name - LOL.

STOP THE PRESS!!!  Special on Magnolia Christmas Stamps at Kellie's….

From today until Wednesday, 25th of November 2009 you can get 20% OFF any Christmas stamp available in store at Magnolia Down Under. It has finally been confirmed that these gorgeous guys and gals will be arriving at Kellie's around the start of the week. The excitement from the DT is infectious so jump on board and join the fun!!! LOL.

Pop over HERE and don’t miss out!

xXx

Anya Ink Challenge #7 - A Boy's Card

This week's challenge over at Anya Ink seems relatively simple - to make a boy's card! It amazes me how difficult this simple sounding brief can be! Recently I re-watched Pirate's of the Carribean and it inspired me to use this fabulous Pirate Ian that I bought from The Stamp Spot. A couple of week's ago Anya Ink had challenged us to tole our images and I enjoyed this so much I decided to re-visit and toled this guy. The top of the scarf, the skull on his belt and the eyepatch were shaped slightly using an embossing tool. I also paper pieced his bandanna and scarf.

The sentiment is from The Greeting Farm too - as is the skull and crossbones image I used to create a faux brad (using Crystal Effects over the image). The DP is from Kaisercraft and was found hiding in my poor neglected stash!

All in all this challenge wasn't too hard once I made the decision of which image and DP to use - it just seemed to come together! Don't you just love it when that happens!!!

xXx

Christmas at The Stamp Spot

One of the things I love about being on a DT is that sometimes you get to play with things you wouldn't usually have - and it's always fun to see what goodies arrive in my DT kit! This angel from Stampendous is one of those things! Marcia over at The Stamp Spot sent me a stamped image to play with and I have decided she's just gorgeous. I had seen this stamp before but had honestly only given it a passing glance! But to have the image stamped in front of me and then to see it come to life with colour - hmmmm - I think she'll be on my next order!!! It just goes to show you need to REALLY look at images sometimes and imagine them stamped up!

My daughter saw this card sitting on the coffee table and asked who had sent it - because she really liked it! She was surprised when I told her it was mine - and not finished yet, I still had to put on the bling! She thought it was soo not my style - but that again is the fun of experimenting! I actually love this card and the papers from Bo Bunny have been the perfect choice. I used both sides of the paper and was surprised how different they were - but how fabulous they looked together!

My image has been cut using my nesties - with the same size nestie being cut in 2 colours to frame her - I trim the end points off and then split them in 2 down the middle. To bling her up I added Dazzling Diamonds to the tips of her wings and the base of her dress, and some Kaiser pearls on the card.

The beautiful stamp, DPs, flowers and nesties are all available from The Stamp Spot - and don't forget to stop in at The Stamp Spot Blog to see what other fabulous inspiration the DT have for you!

xXx

Guest DT for Creatalicious Challenges #4

I was blown away last month when Bec and Cheryl asked me to be their GDT for their 4th challenge at Creatalicious Challenges. I was even more stoked when Cheryl emailed me the brief - it was MADE for me and not really a challenge at all - LOL. What is it you ask - Christmas, Glitter and Snowflakes!!!

My first step was to choose an image to use - not really hard as I had recently bought these adorable digital penguins from Angel's Landing - they are just too cute! I used my Touch and Copic markers to colour them before adding Dazzling Diamonds to all the white areas of their clothes.

Now onto the snowflakes - I machine embroidered the base snowflake in a blue thread that's close to SU's Baja Breeze. I then layered on some Spellbinders snowflakes with alternate layers being treated with Flower Soft and glitter before putting them together with a diamonte brad. And don't forget the embossed snowflake background!!!

A few pale blue rhinestones finishes off the glitter requirement - I just wish once again that glitter would photograph - this really does sparkle IRL. The DP and sentiment is from Stampin' Up.

On a side note - I have been toying with making and selling my embroidered snowflakes - I'd appreciate any expressions of interest to see if it's worth doing!

Now don't forget to pop over to Creatalicious Challenges to check out the rest of the fabulous inspiration from the regular DT and give the challenge a go yourself!

xXx

Cards For A Cause - Search for a Meningitis Vaccine

I have 2 cards for you today using some a couple of very special images. As you know I'm a huge Mo Manning fan and yesterday when I visited Mo's Digital Pencil Too blog I read the sad story of 16 month old Layton John Cleaver who succumbed to meningitis recently - you can read the story HERE. To help raise funds to find a vaccine for this horrible disease, Mo and fellow designer Jim Harker have donated a fabulous digital image each - you get BOTH of these gorgeous stamps for 4 UK pounds - not only a wonderful treat for yourself but together we may help find a way to stop help gorgeous children like Layton from dying. I can tell you I have never bought stamps soo fast my life - if you're interested you can get them HERE.

This first card uses Mo's fabulous image called "Out There". This sweet boy looks set for all sorts of adventures - with his faithful companion by his side to keep him safe. I'm not quite sure how he ended up with these colours - sometimes my colouring just seems to take on a life of it's own. I started off doing his top in a pale blue - but it clashed terribly once I did his shorts. A bit of yellow over the shirt and the whole scheme changed - for the better I think! I couldn't help myself - I added flowers to a boy's card - but the olive green felt flowers and the button centres make it not too girly!!! The DP is from Upsy Daisy. This second card was made using Jim Harker's gorgeous Little Soldier snowman. To me he's a bit of a cross between The Nutcracker and Frosty the Snowman - 2 of my favourite Christmas characters. I've made another snowflake using chunky glitter. The DP and sentiment are from Stampin' Up.

Now I'm heading off to cuddle my kids and hope we can help find a way to stamp out this disease - and many others! It amazes me how the internet and some marvellously talented people can do soo much! Thanx Mo and Jim.

R.I.P Sweet Baby Boy!

xXx

Just Christmas and Birthday Cards Sketch #49

I haven't had much chance lately to play over at Just Christmas and Birthday Card Challenges so I'm rapt I had an opportunity today! This week's sketch is by Karin and I just love it! I have twisted it on it's side though.

The reason I had a chance to stamp was that without any warning the electricity company decided today was the day they needed to replace our connection to the grid! So without power and unable to leave home as they needed access to the garage, it was the perfect chance to craft! I was supposed to be out sourcing blinds or curtains for the room my BIL and his wife will be staying in when they arrive next month from England! Guess what I'm up too tomorrow - LOL.

I've used some DP from Stampin' Up and paired it with Whisper White and Pacific Point CS. The sentiment is also from SU - a retired set called Flaky Friends. The snowman is from last year's Magnolia Christmas collection - I thought he better see ink before my new season snowman gets here - you should check out the new ones at Bizzy Becs - they are sooo cute - it was hard to stop at getting just one of them!

The large snowflake is a nestie and I have covered it with Crystal Iris Chunky Glitter from SU. I may have resigned as a SU demonstrator recently but I still love their products! I have topped these with a plain punched snowflake and a pale blue rhinestone!

Now to work out which one of my friends this one will go to at Christmas - there's a few it might fit - LOL.

xXx

Summer Hits The Stamp Spot

I can't believe Wednesday has come round again! Today is my day for posting my DT card for The Stamp Spot. Since the weather is heating up here in Melbourne I felt this Miss Anya was the perfect choice to ink up! I've added some black stickles on her sunglasses and cut her out with my nesties.

Once again I've used some of the challenge items Marcia popped into our DT kits. I really struggled with the large die cut behind my flower - it was just too flat for my liking!!! Soooo - after staring at it over the past few weeks I thought why not cuttlebug emboss it for some texture - I used the script folder! Much better!!! And then it just seemed easy to place - how funny that such a little thing can help the creative juices flow!

The fabulous DP is from Sassafrass Lass and comes with the beautiful faux stitched edging! Everything is available from The Stamp Spot Online Store with the exception of the punches I used for the sentiment and the flowers.

I love the exotic and Summery feel of this card - even my 11yo son gave this one the thumbs up - LOL

xXx

Anya Ink Challenge #6 - Blue and Orange

Before I talk about this card I'd like to thank everyone for their sweet comments on my last card - I had a bad day that day - you should have seen my workspace - Tildas and paper EVERYWHERE - LOL!!! I think I was just sooo frustrated by the end of it - but I'm glad I finally produced something you liked!

I have also been asked about the swirls and leaves I use - the swirls are a sizzix die and the leaves are McGill punches - email me if you want further info!

Now onto today's card...

Last week we were looking through my stash of cards for a male card - hmmmm - not many there!! I thought this colour challenge from Anya Ink would be the perfect combo to use to start building a collection! I only recently bought this Ian from The Stamp Spot and have been eager to ink him up - he's perfect for the guys in your life!

After I had him all carded up I kept looking at the bare top left corner - if this was a girl's card I would have popped a flower or 2 there - but I was at a loss for what to use for a guy! I decided on leaving it bare as everything I tried just didn't work. Maybe guy's cards need to be simpler - I would appreciate any opinions on this!!!

I do remember one of the senior SU demos telling us at Convention last year that brads are always a good embellishment for male cards - after all - the name BRAD is male so it's kind of a hint - LOL. Maybe that's why roses are great on female cards!!

Here's hoping everyone has a FANTASTIC week - it's certainly starting to feel like Summer is on the way here in Melbourne!!! I am soo NOT a hot weather girl!!!

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