Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #46

I am so thankful to people like Karen Giron, who design lovely sketch challenges, like this, that are keeping me inspired to create, and are helping me finish my Christmas cards at the same time!

I have quite an impressive pile of Christmas cards stockpiled now, and am thinking that maybe I don't have that many more to do after all. This is good because I have NOT started my Christmas shopping yet, and now I will be able to start on that with one big job already finished!

This week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge is #46, and this is the sketch:

...and here is my card:

List of ingredients:

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Baja Blue and Whisper White
Ink: Riding Hood Red Classic Ink
Stamps: Christmas Classics
Accessories: Spellbinders Scallop Circles and Plain Circle Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, Button Bouquet, Ski Slope DSP, Paper Piercer, Valet Ribbon Originals, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive and Mini Glue Dots.

Today is the last day that the Ski Slope DSP is available and I am sitting here umming and ahhing about getting some more. I love it to bits...and I am going to be so sad when mine runs out! Should I stock up? I think I also NEED some more Parisian Breeze Specialty DSP...UGH!

My apologies if you are over this stamp from the Christmas Classics set. I'm not, and I'm thinking it is so cute that it has some more mileage left it in still ;-).

Ok...gonna try and take the kids to see 'Cloudy With the Chance of Meatballs' today. It really is cloudy here, but chances are it'll be spag bol or risotto, rather than meatballs ;-).

Have a wonderful afternoon.
Sam.

PS. I just put in an order for some Partylite Tealights. I LOVE Teakwood and Cardamon, but they are being retired in February next year...Arrrrgggghhhhhhh! I nearly cried.....SIGH, I guess I'll survive! I'm also going to get some Peppermint Bark for a bit of Christmas cheer. Anyone else a Partylite fan?

More Tri-Shutter Tinkering

I had a friend over yesterday afternoon and we managed to get a little Christmas card-making done in between eating, chatting and swimming with our four kids. It was a lot of fun!

 

 

List of Ingredients:

Cardstock: Cranberry Crisp (retired), True Thyme (retired) and Very Vanilla
Ink: Cranberry Crisp and True Thyme Classic Ink
Stamps: Christmas Classics
Accessories: Holiday Thyme DSP (retired), Spellbinders Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, paper piercer, SNAIL adhesive and Dimensionals.

The instructions for the Tri-Shutter card can be found on Splitcoaststampers, here. Instead of 5.5 x 12 inches, I use half a sheet of 12 x 12 for my base card (6 x 12 inches) and cut at 1.75 inches from each long end (instead of 1.5 inches, as they do on SCS). All the other measurements (ie the scores at 2, 4, 8 and 10 inches...I do the same).

I'd like to add at this point that I was very impressed with my Cranberry Crisp and True Thyme Classic Ink pads. They haven't been used since Christmas 2007....and two years later they were as juicy and fresh as the day they were bought! The Holiday Thyme DSP was a Christmas special from Stampin' Up! in 2007.

Thanks for stopping in my little corner of cyber-space. I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Best wishes,
Sam.

Mojo Monday - week 114

I haven't participated in one of these Mojo Monday challenges for quite a while either...but last night I needed some inspiration, and this one looked good to me.

This week is week 114, and here is the sketch:

This is my card:

List of Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red textured, Very Vanilla and Brushed Gold
Accessories: Christmas Ornaments Cuttlebug Folder, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Gold Cord (retired), Scallop Edge Punch, Chit Chat Rub-Ons, Metallic Eyelets, Crop-a-dile, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals and SNAIL Adhesive.

If the Christmas sentiment kinda looks like an after-thought, that'd be because it was! I got to the end and realised I'd forgotten to put a sentiment on (not an unusual occurrence for me, I'm a pictures person). Then I had a bit of difficulty working out where it would go. Ooops!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and thank you for all of your lovely comments. You guys rock!

:-)
Sam.

Crazy Shakespearean Cinema Couture...

I thought I'd play along with this week's Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge because the movie was one that lent itself to bling, and I just felt like some bling! I felt like lots of bling in fact ;-).

I decided to use this image (from the Costumer's Guide website) as my inspiration:

I called this blog post 'Crazy...' because when I'd finished playing with all my bling I thought...now what on earth will I do with this card?

Truth be told, it'll probably be carefully dismantled (all bling salvaged), and this will just have been a playful bling-art experience...but as I was taking the photo I thought that you could probably give the card as a Christening card for a baby girl. Maybe?!?

Anyway...here it is:

List of Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Soft Sky Carousel Notes (retired), Whisper White and Brushed Silver
Ink: Soft Sky Classic Ink
Stamps: Linen Background Stamp
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8 inch Circle Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Crop-a-dile, Pretties Kit, Clear Rhinestone Brads, Silver Ribbon (miscellaneous), Sticky Strip, Mini Glue Dots and SNAIL adhesive.

I made the three silver ribbon flowers (in the foreground of the first image) because I was originally going to make a different style of card...but I gave up on those (waaaay too fiddly).

Ok......gonna go do something about lunch now.
Have a wonderful day!

Sam.

PS. Thank you to Karen Giron for my new Christmas-themed watermark. It is so cute!

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #45

I haven't participated in one of Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenges for a while now, but I just felt like one last night. The sketch for this challenge is:

...and this is my card:

 

List of ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red Textured, Very Vanilla Plain
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink
Stamps: Merry, Merry (retired)
Accessories: Scallop edge punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, 1 1/4 inch circle punch, Crop-a-dile, 1 1/4 inch striped grosgrain ribbon, 5/16 inch Neutrals Jumbo Brads, Chocolate Chip Patterns DSP, On Board Essentials, Versamark, Heat and Stick Powder, Heat Tool, Romantic Red Glitter, Dimensionals, Anywhere Glue Stick, Sticky Strip and SNAIL adhesive.

...it always surprises me how such a simple looking card can have such a long list of ingredients! Given the state of my desk though...it should really be no surprise at all.

Have a nice day!
Sam.

Another case of CASEing...

...and this time I am CASEing the beautiful work of Paula from Precioso Designs

Now I am not sure about these colours exactly. They are a bit of a mish mash, as I challenged myself to use only scrap bits of DSP. As a result, I was a bit limited with colour choice...and it also made working out which DSPs I'd used (for the ingredients list) somewhat of a challenge too!

List of ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip and Whisper White plain cardstock
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink
Stamps: Good Friend
Accessories: White Gel Pen, Paper Piercer, Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Bali Breeze DSP, Summer Picnic DSP, Bright Delights Rub-ons, Button Bouquet Designer Buttons, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip and SNAIL adhesive.

I think I got all those DSPs right....I had to go back through some of the old minis to work out what they were!

Thanks so much for the inspiration Paula, I had a lot of fun making this wee birdie!

I won't say have a nice day again...just in case I come back AGAIN! Not likely, but then two posts in one day wasn't likely either!

Ciao,
Sam.

Santa is a Christmas CASE!

I first saw him here on nitestamper's beautiful blog, and I could NOT resist. He is soooooo cute....dontcha think?

List of Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Basic Black Textured, Whisper White, Real Red and Creamy Caramel plain
Stamps: Merry Merry (retired)
Ink: Real Red and Creamy Caramel Classic Ink
Accessories: Crimper, White Gel Pen, Stampin' Sponge, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, 1 inch circle punch, 3/4 inch circle punch, Swirly Cuttlebug Folder, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip and SNAIL adhesive.

I know, I know....Creamy Caramel as a skin tone for Santa is a bit of a stretch...but I really like how the colours go together. Guess he is a bronzed Aussie Santa....hope he uses SPF 50+!

Speaking of which...guess I'd better go find my 50+, seems like it is going to be significantly warm again today...

Have a lovely day!
Sam.

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh...

 

The whole time I was making this little bracelet, I was humming 'We Three Kings'. I think it's the colours. The purple in particular was making me think of royalty, and given Christmas is almost upon us (YES, I know! Where did the year go?)... it seems appropriate.

The gorgeous purple and gold glass lampwork beads are by the very talented Marie of Bleu Verre, the silver is all sterling, and the crystals are by Swarovski:

Not much else going on here, just a peaceful weekend...thank goodness :-).

Hope your weekend is peaceful too!

Sam.

PS. I went and saw New Moon. I was going to wait until the crowds died down a bit before venturing out...but instead I treated myself to a Dendy Premium seat...(well worth it IMO ;-). It was a great pic...will definitely go see it again in the next few weeks!

Twilight - New Moon

Christmas Elves and Face Paint

I have been wanting to CASE Karen's gorgeous Christmas Elf card ever since I laid eyes on it...and today, I did just that!

 

List of ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Holiday Print (retired) background stamp
Cardstock: Blush Blossom, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla and Basic Black
Ink: Old Olive and Riding Hood Red Classic Ink
Accessories: Scallop edge punch, 1 inch circle punch, 3/4 inch circle punch, half inch circle punch, five petal blossom punch, Maya Road Iridescent Pearl Mist, White Gel Pen, Dauber, Riding Hood Red Striped Ribbon, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive and mini glue dots.

Karen used Stampin' Up!'s Top Note Die, but as I don't have that, I have used my Nestabilities Labels 8 to create the face shape. Hopefully you can see in the second photo where I have applied the Maya Road Iridescent Pearl Mist to the hat pom pom and trim.

In other weekend news... today Miss 5 was desperate for me to paint her face...so I did (well, I drew on her face...using Lyra skin colouring pencils):

...and then, not wanting to miss out on the action, Master 3 consented to Miss 5 creating art on his face too:

 ...check out the look of tender brotherly trust...

...was that trust misplaced? It is a dinosaur face of course...see the sharp silver teeth around the mouth? I thought it looked fab, but Master 3 needed a bit of convincing. He warmed to it after a while, and was making suitably dinosaur-ish noises around the garden.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend too!

:-)
Sam.

May your Merry be Very!

I love this Christmas sentiment! It is not a new one, but it still appeals to me...lots :-).

I have just made a very simple card this time...but simple is very, very good if you are considering making 20 or more (IMHO ;-).

List of Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise indicated):

Stamps: Merry Merry
Cardstock: Real Red and Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black Classic Ink
Accessories: Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Metal-Edged Tag, 1 1/4 inch Circle Punch, Cherry Metallic Mist (Maya Road), Mini Cosmic Bubbles 6 x 6 Template (The Crafter's Workshop), SNAIL adhesive, Mini Glue Dots and Dimensionals.

Yesterday was such an amazing day here. Warm and sunny. Beautiful!

I found this fabulous red Bottlebrush bursting forth in the garden:

...and I even managed to sneak in a little beading time too (lampwork beads by Marie of Bleu Verre):

 

Today is also going to be a stunner...so I might go do some weeding I think, or sitting under a tree with the kids ;-).

Sam.