Tickled Pink Stamps Meets Anya Ink

This week Tickled Pink Stamps is sponsoring the Anya Ink Challenge and the TPS team were able to join the fun. The challenge is a recipe - 3 flowers, 2 buttons and a bow. It was great to join in because it gave me the excuse to ink up my sadly neglected CC stamps - you can use either Greeting Farm OR CC Stamps for Anya Ink.

As you can see I haven't made a card - I actually made a little gift bag. The bag pattern is one of the 3 bags in Becky Roberts' (Inking Idaho) Tres Chic Handbag tutorial - and soo much fun to make. I decided to make this little bag for one of my fellow MDUC DT members to pop a little birthday present in - I know she LOVES handbags and I not only got to meet her yesterday in person for the first time but it was also her birthday.

I also made her a card to match - using the same designer papers and my Tim Holtz tattered floral die for the large flower. I didn't quite manage to use the full recipe on the card - but I did get to use another of my CC stamps!

xXx

This One's A Bit Bright!

This is unheard of for ME - I've managed to fit 3 challenges into one small card - woohooo! But apologies if you feel the need to pop on your sunglasses - LOL. I was lucky enough to stamp this cutie off when I had the TPS girls over - thanx Kristy! She is just sooo adorable! I think she looks like she's holidaying on some tropical isle - just where I'd like to be as we head into Winter here in Oz! I've cut her floral headband out and popped it up for some extra fun! And if the sun were shining here - you'd see how much this sparkled!

Now onto the challenges I'm entering...

The wonderful new look Anya Ink asked for an easel card - tick (I love easels - LOL)

The Pink Elephant ask that you use the colour orange - tick  ( I actually love the colour orange but I know lots of people don't - poor orange!!!)

Mad for Markers ask you use feathering - tick (I used copics Y00 and YR00 for her dress and flowers - and thanx for the tutorial - it's such a fun technique)

The DP was from Kristy's Delicious Papercrafting store - if she doesn't have papers you'll LOVE you are just toooo darn fussy - LOL. This one is from October Afternoon's Thrift Shop, the 8x8 pad. I computer generated the sentiment - and my son and I were trying to remember the words to this song all morning - it wasn't very pretty for anyone's ears - LOL

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Anya Ink #2 - Pink and Sparkly

We have such a fun girly challenge this week at Anya Ink - pink and sparkly. Once again I have to lament the fact that photos just don't do glitter justice - but hopefully you can see how much sparkle and bling this gal has. Each of the panels and the white flower is trimmed with some crystal stickles - while Anya's dress and bow, and the white punched lattice, are all smothered in Dazzling Diamonds. On top of that there are the hot pink Kaiser rhinestones for even more sparkle. AND I do believe if you could see me right now I'd be sparkling like crazy too - I always seem to be covered in glitter. I was once asked if I was a Kindergarten teacher because I was always sparkling - LOL.

Once again I've used my Basic Grey paper pads for the DP - these are from the Bittersweet (hearts) and Green at Heart (hot pink behind the doily and the leaves) ranges. I got the square doily from The Stamp Spot and have found that the edges curl up nicely if you stick it down in the central panel.

Now here is my "crunchie" moment - ie blonde on the inside - LOL. I was frustrated that the leaf spray only curled one way and my DP was one sided. I won't tell you how long it took me to think "Doh - cut it upside down". I tell ya I live with waaaayy too many blondes, it's rubbing off - LOL.

So grab your sparkles. glitter and bling and come and join us for some fun! And don't forget to check out the rest of the AMAZING DT inspiration at Anya Ink.

xXx

Kristy's Anya Ink Challenge #1

To start off with the new look Anya Ink DT Kristy decided to give us an easy challenge - "Anything Goes". Did I say EASY?!?!?! I have decided I'm a gal who needs some direction - you should see all the half finished projects I started and then went - mah - try something else - LOL. This little gift bag/box was actually one of the first projects I started - LOL.

I wanted to make something to hold a small gift. My daughter often buys gifts for her friends that don't have really nice packaging - so I hear "Mum, I don't suppose......". "No probs" I say - "When do you need it?" Can you guess the answer .............. "I'm leaving in about an hour". Aaaagh!!!!! So I decided to be clever and get a step ahead of the game and make this for an emergency gift - LOL. I thought this Anya was a perfect party gal for the front. I've coloured her, cut her out and then stuck her onto some white card before re-cutting. This has had the dual role of covering up the back of the image where the ink has seeped through and giving her more strength sitting up above the top of the lid.

The top note purse is actually CASEd from Becky Roberts at Inking Idaho - you can find her instructions HERE. I've had these instructions in my "to do"file for some time - so it was great to finally get around to it!

My DPs are from my Basic Grey Bittersweet paper pad.

Now if you want to take this opportunity to make something you've been meaning to make for some time - or you just want to have some fun making anything you want - head over to Anya Ink and check out the rest of the DT inspiration and then have fun creating!!!!

xXx

One Door Closes......

Last Wednesday I posted my last creation for The Stamp Spot DT and as one of my lovely friends said "One door closes and another one opens" Well Leigh you were right! I'm back today with the EXCITING news that Kristy has asked me to be on the new look Anya Ink DT - along with some other amazingly talented gals - Angela, Betty, Claudia, Debra, Erin, Fran, Kristy, Tammy and Tracey. And none other that the fabulous Kellie is our first Guest!

We have our first fortnightly challenge starting next Friday - that's April 2nd and I just realised it's Good Friday too! I best get a move on and get creating!!!

So come along and have some fun!

xXx

Anya Ink Challenge - Guest DT Spot

This week I have the honour of being a GDT for Anya Ink. The challenge this week is "bling" and I have gone for a really old fashioned "Hollywood" glitz feel for my card. I wish you could see this IRL - it sparkles beautifully. I have used crystal stickles on all the edges as well as in the lace work created by my Martha Stewart punch. I have used my Copic Spica gold pen to give my "Marilyn" a sparkly gold lame dress and shoes. Her wrap has been covered in Dazzling Diamonds for more bling! And what does an old fashioned gal like as much as sparkle - pearls! "Marilyn" is sitting on a shelf of pink and cream pearls - with more placed around the card and on the satin bow.

To finish off the Hollywood feel I have computer generated a sentiment which was a famous quote by the late, great Marilyn Monroe herself. The DP is from my Basic Grey Porcelain paper pad.

BREAKING NEWS - Anya Ink has a new owner - my wonderful friend Kristy Young is taking over the challenge and has some exciting plans! But first she's having a new DT call!!! So what are you waiting for .... check out the requirements HERE and GOOD LUCK!

Now grab your bling and one of your TGF stamps and come along and have some fun over at Anya Ink!

xXx

A Joy Fold Card For The Stamp Spot

Wednesday is my DT day for The Stamp Spot and I have been showcasing some of the fabulous new stamps Marcia has in now she's re-stocked after her move - this one is Princess Ava from The Greeting Farm!

I've made my very first joy fold card thanx to the wonderful inspiration I've been seeing from Kylie over at INKlings from Kylie's Kraft Room. The final temptation was the tutorial she's posted HERE - and she has it on both imperial AND metric!!!

Once again I've used a Basic Grey paper pad for the DPs - and Marcia now has these listed under a separate heading HERE to make them easier to find - thanx Marcia!!! The roses are also from The Stamp Spot Store - and the nestabilities and cuttlebug folders can be found there too! I have used one of my Martha Stewart border punches and the sentiment was computer generated by me and says "Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince...".

I'm going to enter this into the Anya Ink Challenge this week too - the challenge is embossing! I was sooo excited to come in the top 3 last week with my baby t-shirt - and I will be reporting on the wash tests soon..... I need to pop it through again!

Enjoy the rest of your week

xXx

Is Your Baby Girl a Little Angel???

This month Creatalicious Challenges asked us to create a little something and this week Anya Ink have asked us to make something other than a card! I was starting to wonder what to come up with for these challenges when I received an email newsletter from Christine Wooden from All That Scraps.In the newsletter there was a wonderful tutorial by Diane Zechman for using Copics on baby onesies - HOW CUTE!!!! Diane has the tutorial on her blog HERE if you want to check it out!

Well as you can see I HAD to try this out - what an adorable gift you could make - with a matching card, box - the list is endless! Obviously I have used a baby's t-shirt instead of a onesie - but the concept is the same. It was really quick and easy to do - once I had the shirt washed and dried! The only hard part was not being able to blend my copics as easily as on CS.

I have painted on fabric before and was tempted to paint over the image with textile medium - but I stuck to the tutorial for this one. My next job is to test how water safe this is after washing - stay tuned - I'll let you know how it goes.

xXx

Anya Ink Challenge - Flowers

This week Anya Ink have an easy challenge for The Greeting Farm lovers - to use flowers!!! This is open to all sorts of interpretation and I've tried to use flowers in a variety of ways - my floral DP (which was left over from my nephew's wedding), the flower on this Madelynn Twinkle Tot's hat and the handmade 3D flower.  The flower is made from 10 layers of white tissue that I've punched scallop circles out of and held together with a red diamonte brad before scrunching the layers. There's a great tutorial HERE by Dawn McVey but the tissue version was inspired by Patti Lee HERE.

The layout this week follows Mojo Monday's sketch #122 - but you've probably noticed I've flipped it onto it's side. All CS is from SU.

I can't believe another weekend is upon us - the Summer holidays are nearly done and my son and I will be heading back to our respective schools for a new school year in about a week's time. My daughter finished High School last year and is beginning the next phase of her life - University!!! We are very proud that she has achieved her goal and was offered a place in her preferred course - Bachelor of Business (Banking and Finance) - the hope is she'll know how to help her poor old folks settle into retirement with comfort - LOL.

Enjoy your upcoming weekend!

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

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

Anya Ink Challenge #1

YAY - I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting back on track now! The kids are back and school and routines are back in place - for the most part! Now I can have a chance to play a little!

I really wanted to join in over at Anya Ink's first ever challenge, especially as it combines a colour combo I love with stamps I love - pink and brown with white or cream! I've layered 2 of my Fleur de Lis Nestabilities to create a snowflake - have you noticed I love snowflakes yet - LOL. Some fab DP from my stash created the perfect backdrop! I also added some white flower soft from The Stamp Spot to her earmuffs, muff and pom-poms. I figured the snowflake and Miss Anya were the stars here so I didn't need to much other embellishment!

Now why a Winter card when we're halfway through Spring here in Melbourne!?!?!?! Let me show you the weather on the day I was creating this - brrrrrrr. This hail storm was pretty heavy - I was soooo glad I had just got home from work and didn't need to go out again!!!

You gotta love Melbourne weather - it certainly can keep you guessing!!

xXx