Back again!

Okay, this one is a recent card, not like my last post which ended up showing with posts of June last year.... not sure how that happened....

I purchased the very lovely Time for Tea paper by Stampin' Up! a few weeks ago and was inspired to cut into it as I needed to make some cards for work - and this is one of them.  Needless to say as I like it so much it now won't be making its way to the card box at work, I will send it off to a friend instead.

I really like how the polka dot flower turned out, with a wee So Saffron flower for it's centre, almost looks like a spotty daffodil in my opinion.

The leaves are hand cut from scraps, as was the stem, all nicely glued down now.

Super Sketchy Sunday - Day 153

Don't often play along with sketches but it's a friend's birthday in a couple of weeks and as she spent it in Paris last year I thought I'd remind her of that fact this year!

So here are my two cards for the Super Sketchy Sunday - Day 153 - over at 365 Cards today.

I had a couple of go's at the sketch, the first one in pink and chocolate - tres chic - but was not too happy with the result and then I sort of remade it in green and orange which are a favourite colour combo of hers - hope she likes it!

{and now that I've loaded both photos I'm sort of liking the pink and brown one better now!}

First attempt::

 Second attempt:

Things with Wings

Hi there, started making this card yesterday afternoon and was playing around with different butterflies that I had in my stash and even though I don't like crafting at night time I actually went ahead and found some nice subtle paper for the background from the Mariposa DCWV mini stack and it all evolved from there really!  I had a gold-embossed butterfly which I had fussy-cut and then I ran out of steam LOL!

But this morning driving to work the rest of the inspiration struck so couldn't wait to get home to finish it and here is the result - which I really like :>

I made this for the Things with Wings challenge over at Creative Corner.

A Rainbow of Circles!

I made this card a wee while ago when I was experimenting with inlaid embossing, it is a great way of using up teeny tiny bits of paper and it was really fun to make.  It's like a rainbow of bubbles, all floating away!

Would love to enter this card into the Creative Corner challenge called "I can see Rainbows" - which basically asked for any interpretation of rainbows, in this case it's not the shape but the colours (even though some are missing from the spectrum)

For my mum

Hi again, I've been away from the crafting table for some time, if only I could re-direct my Facebook energy into crafting I'd get sooo much done!

Anyway, I went to tidy my craft table as we are having guests next weekend for Leo's 6th birthday and of course I got inspired right there and then - isn't that always the case (anything to put off the tidying up for a while longer LOL).  [Actually I'm lying -  I did also make the invites for his party a couple of days ago, he wanted Angry Bird invites so I made some Bomb Birds with punch art and they turned out quite cute]

Anyway, back to my card.  I made it with mum in mind, for no particular occassion, it's not her birthday, and it's a bit too early for Mothers' Day, so I just wanted to tell her how much she has always amazed me with her patience and cheerfulness in the face of adversity and just wanted to send her a card to tell her how much I love her!  She and I had a chat a few months ago about how little we express our 'love' feelings for each other so now when we call we always sign off with "love you mum/Francie!"  Never to late to start loosing the stiff upper lip and getting a bit lovey dovey with your mum I reckon :>

I've done a bit to recycle as well, the white card is the reverse side from a certificate (usual thing, printed the wrong text on a certificate at work and it seemed such a shame to just bin it so it comes home with me and get's up-cycled), the orange flowery border came from one of the very first papercraft kits I purchased many years ago and the hearts had been stamped on another piece of card and were just sitting around so I cut them out and glittered them up a little - can't have too much bling in my opinion!

I'm entering this in the Creative Corner Challenge - I see them have almost 150 entries already, what a rip-roaring success that has become!  The theme for the challenge was "Anything goes" so here is goes.

Owl Bookmark

After a very busy few weeks at work it has finally settled down and I can finally start to unwind at the weekend whilst leaving work where it belongs:  at work!

We had a nice quiet day today which meant I had my first chance to have a real good look at some SU goodies I purchased a couple of weeks ago {I think I'm safe to say this as am sure my hubby does not check my blog!}

Anyway, even though I do have a lot of crafting stuff I was lacking inspiration so treated myself to a pack of card of the latest InColours {or InColors} PLUS the matching 5 ink pads PLUUUS a pack of DSP that matched those colours, namely Patio Party.

And just as an extra bonus I also bought the Owl punch which I have always found adorable and which is featured here today.

The other totally practical thing I bought (I thought I'd better make the most of it and purchase enough to get me a Sale-A-Bration freebie...) was those sectioned plastic 12x12 scrapbook pages, like you see on Project Life, and had lots of fun today seeing if they fitted into an existing album I had - yes they did fit but once I'd loaded them all and closed it all up again I realised of course that some of them were in upside down..... I'll pull the album apart another day and fix that error of placement!

Enough rambling:  my project today was designed after I saw the Challenge over at Creative Corner Challenges which asked for "Designer Paper" and even though I could have used my brand new stuff I opted from some I have still from a couple of years ago from Stampin' Up!    Had sooo much fun putting the wee owl together, though I kept loosing his 'pupils' as they are so tiny - but in the end he came together nicely - with all colours matching the DSP I used of course LOL!

Other challenges entered are:
Stamping the with Dragon - Anything goes
Divas by Design - Anything goes



It is not a card {I tried to find 'rules and regulations' on Creative Corner blog but there was nothing obvious that says it has to be a card} instead this time I have made a bookmark for my son who loves reading - and loves to mark the pages with a bookmark!  I'm hoping to get it laminated so it lasts a bit longer that it would as it currently stands.

Patchwork + Brad

Going a bit silly here at the moment, at least I managed to get some crafting done this morning for a couple of challenges:  365 Cards asked for Patchwork and Creative Corner Challenges asked for Brads or Eyelets - I don't actually possess any eyelets (and wouldn't know what to do with them if I did have some!) but I do have a pack or 6 of brads.  I used a single one in the centre of the flower, and made up a patchwork background with 1-inch squares of pink and green papers.  In true patchwork fashion the edges are slightly wonky but as quilters will soon tell you, you are not meant to make your patchwork perfect as only God is perfect!  So that saying has saved my bacon today LOL!

The background card is Certainly Celery, a nice soft green from Stampin' Up! and I've always loved these little house stamps - thought it went quite well with the greeting.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of the day, I may go for another walk up the hill as we did last weeekend (then again I may just stay home and do housework, arghhhh)

Christmas Card Challenge

Yep, I know it is a bit early - even for me - to be making Christmas cards but nothing like a blog challenge to get you all inspired :>

Over at Keryn's Card there is a weekly NZ challenge to make a Christmas card inspired by one that she creates and this week it is a quilted top note card.  Seeing as I've never actually made one of these 'quilted' cards I thought I'd just do a very similar one to the one Keryn made.  I managed to find three pieces of Christmas paper in my stash and as I don't have a square punch I cut them into 1-inch pieces.  I also felt I needed a bit more variety so made up my own 'pretty paper' with some vanilla cardstock and Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler ink.

In hindsight I shouldn't have run it through with the embossing folder as it opened up the 'seams' a little, but nothing a bit of ribbon won't cover!

I am also entering this card in a couple of other challenges:
365 Cards which asked for a colour combo of green, dark red and dark purple (which I have not used - sorry!)
Charisma Cardz Challenges - Anything goes.

Remember to click on a photo if you want a closeup view.

And after I finished the card the kids and I went out for a walk, enjoying the lovely weather we had today!

Colour like Crazy! {well, not really :>}

I bought this baby stamp from the SU Clearance Rack a few weeks ago and stamped and coloured in the image but never got any further, so when I saw that 365 Card Challenges asked for 'Colour like Crazy' I thought it was the perfect chance to give it a home, ie finish the card!

Of course it hardly was coloured like crazy, just a couple of soft colours were used, but still, colouring in is colouring in!

And of course I forgot to put the memory card in the camera so now will have to wait until tomorrow to take another photo and load it up.....oh well :>

But on the bright side I've rediscovered how to link specific posts to challenges - I was forgetting to add a title to my posts!

I ignored the sinkful of dirty dishes this morning and decided to get creating again, this time it is for a couple of challenges, 365 Cards and Creative Corner Challenges.  365 Cards asked for 3 buttons, 3 flowers and 3 ribbons for their day challenge, and Creative Corner asked for the theme to be "Sorry".   I used this sentiment from SU which says "I"m so sorry" but I'm never quite sure whether I'm saying sorry 'cause I've been bad or I'm saying sorry for another person's sorrow!

Anyway, I used up lots of things I had on my desk, the only new things are the sentiment and the leaves, everything else was from my 'leftover' box - very handy!

A scrappy card

I really love to create using bits and pieces I have lying around on my desk - and it's not that messy either, really!

This card started out quite different, I stamped the Eiffel Tower and the big circle from Artistic Etchings by Stampin' Up! and started playing around with them but somehow other things started to creep onto the card and in the end the Eiffel Tower and circle got up and left in disgust LOL!  (I used the circle in my scrapbook page here, the Eiffel Tower is still waiting on my desk :< )

The only 'new' element is the sun, I had the circle left over from diecutting letters, found a snippet of the same yellow in the wastepaper basket and a few snips and drops of glue later the sun came out - right in front of the clouds which I find rather odd somehow hehehe...

365 Cards day 312 - Pretty Pairs "Black + Checkerboard"

Bless you Tim Holtz!  I went into a mild panic when I saw the 365 Cards challenge combo of Black + Checkerboard, and after a couple of days of wondering what on earth I'd do I remembered the 'checkerboard' embossing folder I have!!  Horray!

So here is it, checkerboard embossed background, a hint of black in the gingham ribbon (still sitting on my desk as a possible element from the gingham card a couple of days ago...) and went all out flowery and butterflies again!

I think this is the first card where I've used Peach Parfait as a background colour and really like it!  It was an odd piece of card I hard lying around, and now it has found a fitting home.

365 Cards day 310 - Pretty Pairs "Red + Gingham"

Took me a while to sort this pair out!  I sort of got caught up in the thought that I needed red gingham [which I don't have] but of course it can be red gingham or red something and gingham something!

I had lots of fun making this card today, am really pleased I have a whole heap of birthdays coming up in February so by the time this week is over I should be sorted cardwise :>

For the last three cards I've used an off-white card I purchased at a $2 shop, feels really lovely to the touch, is nice and firm and goes with almost anything!  The pad had 12 sheets so that's 24 card bases for $2.50, not bad!

And I love this floral stamp from Stampin' Up! {Nature Walk stamp set}, I inked it up with Riding Hood Red and Old Olive, used a snippet of Cherry Cobbler plus some Certainly Celery - the green gingham was from a pack I got years ago...

Challenges:
365 Cards - Pretty Pairs Red + Gingham.

365 Cards day 309 - Pretty Pairs "Green + Stripes"

The second challenge of 'pretty pairs' at 365 Cards is to use "Green + Stripes".

Shhh, don't tell anyone but I almost forgot the green!!!

My initial plan was to paper piece the pickup truck with a green stripey paper but then the red caught my eye and I was so focused on that that 'green' almost slipped away on me!

So now you know why the truck in parked on the lawn hehehe - the day was saved by a scrap of Old Olive!

365 Cards day 308 - Pretty Pairs "Blue + Polkadots"

Here is my take on the challenge over at 365 Cards this week.  All this week they will be 'pretty-pairing' patterns with colours and the first one is "Blue + Polka Dots".  Of course my first reaction was to use a blue polka dot paper but then I found this scrap of paper on my desk so decided to challenge myself a little further and combine it with blue.  I really like how the Pumpkin Pie butterflies almost fly off the page!

I'll be sending this off to my sister-in-law who has a birthday at the start of February.

Paris, oh la la...

One thing on my 'bucket list' is to find myself in Paris one day!  I was saving up for it and then found out I was pregnant so that dream was postponed for the moment... hopefully I can start saving again soon - maybe I'll get there for my 50th birthday!

Anyway, over at 365 Cards they were asking for LANDMARKS and there's nothing more romantic than the Eiffel Tower....

I had punched out the polka dot background card ages ago when I first got the MS loop punch, and now it has found a fitting home.  The ribbon was from a sale bin at Kmart, excess Christmas stock as usual!

I love this stamp set, bought it specially to make my daughter's 21st birthday day (the plan was that we were both going to Paris, so she's still waiting for that too LOL!) - her card is at the end of the post.

Another recycled card!

Following on from yesterday's post today I made another card from the other pisco package.

I don't usually work with dark green so went to Color Lab to get a colour combination and it suggested More Mustard and Cherry Cobler and I do like how they go together.

I added some tiny silver brads to the greeting to tie in with the silver on the condor graphic, a bit of sponging in Soft Suede all over plus a bronze buckle I've had for ages and it was pretty much done.

We showed it to one of my sister-in-laws over Skype this morning and she immediately recognized the "Alto del Carmen" so that was good!

Teal birthday

Have been rather busy these last few days but today managed to make this card for the 365 Cards challenge, "Feeling blue-green".

When my mum was visiting she bought a DCWV stack and I got lucky and grabbed a couple off her before she left - lighten the luggage so to speak!

And actually it's her birthday next month so I might just send it to her!  Love that paper with all the glitter on it.

Black and White plus a dash of orange!

Found this [old] challenge over at the Play Date Cafe this morning, to use black and white with a splash of orange - and combined with the divide and conquer challenge over at 365 Cards this is the result!

As I don't have any black and white patterned paper, I decided to make my own using a cute wee set from SU! called Good Neighbours.

Out of my comfort zone with Grunge..

I was a bit worried when I saw the Grunge challenge yesterday at 365 Cards as it's not something I've ever attempted before though I'm a big fan of Tim Holtz and his work.

I purchased one of his sets ages ago and the first time I used it I just couldn't get the ink to 'stick' properly to the stamps and was really disappointed but yesterday I used some Stampin' Up! inks and they worked just fine!  Maybe the stamps were too new the first time, I can't really remember what ink I used back then.

Anyway here is the card I made yesterday, I quite enjoyed making it so think I'll be putting that stamp set to good use from now on, it is great for male cards.  I'd love to do something similar but with a wee bit more red in it for a bit of omph.

I tried googling 'grunge cards' to get ideas but didn't have much luck, I think grunge refers to a lot of distressing, paper tearing, staining, knocking your cup of tea over it, you get the picture!

.....................and the next day..........................

I had another play around with the card above as I really wanted to add a hint more red and here is the result, including a gift tag that I made just because!  [well, I was making some Christmas gift tags and thought:  why not make a grunge one too?!]

The string on the gift tag came off a bag of flour I opened a couple of weeks ago [my mother {and probably my grandmother, my great-grandmother, etc}] always used to save string and I think it rubbed off on me LOL!  It was rather white so I rolled it over a SU Crumb Cake inkpad and it took on a nicely distressed/dirty look - just perfect!