Just Add Chevrons

I was very happy to see this week's challenge at Just Add Ink. The challenge was to Just Add Chevrons and, for once in a long while, I felt up to this challenge (and besides, chevrons really appeal to my sense of symmetry, or something...).

This said, there is still a very large pile of mess on my desk. From previous experience I can tell you that the size of the pile of mess on my desk is proportional to how much trouble I had making the card, i.e. small pile of mess = the card came easy, no blood was spilled......large pile of mess = I had to extract the card tooth by painful tooth. I am just not finding card-making very easy right now, and it is ticking me right off (vicious circle perhaps?).

Anyway, frivolous ramblings aside....the card has been extracted, the deed done...and here 'tis:

Painful though the process was, I am still pleased with the end result. It feels like a fun card to me. As I put the finishing touches on it I noticed that it complemented another pair of earrings I made during the week, similar to Kim's birthday earrings, just with a different Swarovski crystal above the dotty beads.

...and while I'm on the subject of earrings, thanks so much for all the lovely comments on the last pair....your feedback is very much appreciated!

Have a wonderful Saturday...I'm going to go dip my toe in the pool and see how it feels. We've been having a delicious heat wave here, and it looks like it will go on for a few more days yet....37-39 degrees C for the fifth day running and headed for 40 on Tuesday!

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White and Kraft (SU);
Ink: Summer Sun and Tangerine Tango Classic Inks (SU) and Tuxedo Black (Memento);
Stamps: Decorated Christmas, Fanciful Flowers, BBD - 5 and Stemmed Flowers (Annabelle Stamps);
Punches: 3/4 inch circle and Five Petal Flower (SU);
Accessories: Chevron Dies (MFT), Patterned Papers (KaiserKraft), Textured Embossing Folder (SU), Paper Piercer (misc), White Gel Pen (misc) and Dimensionals (SU).

Blogged to: Bust a Move - Young MC, Psycho Killer - Talking Heads, Babooshka - Kate Bush and Eye of the Tiger - Survivor.

Devilled Egg Anyone...?

Perhaps a Halloween Mr Potato Head? Hubby reckons I need to send this one to a psychologist for evaluation. How rude is he?!

I decided I'd play along with this week's Just Add Ink sketch challenge #137:

...and this is my card (I've turned the sketch on its side):

Given Thumper has been doing double-time, dragging a Mr Potato head around the house this week (and I've been finding its body parts everywhere...including the shower stall), along with the fact that Halloween is soon and the kids plan on going trick or treating for the first time ever...well, it's no surprise to me that this is the card I ended up with today. I think I can save myself the $$...no psych needed. It is a weird card, no question about it, but weird people make weird cards. I don't need a psych degree for that diagnosis either.

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White and Riding Hood Red (SU);
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko);
Stamps: Occasional Greetings (SU);
Punches: Small Oval for pupils, eyebrows and nose (SU) and Small Egg for hair (EK Success);
Accessories: Neutrals Patterns Stack DSP (SU), White Gel Pen (misc), Paper Piercer (misc), Nestabilities Oval Dies for eyes (Spellbinders), Nestabilities Egg Dies for body and tongue (Spellbinders), Umbrella Die for horns and tail (My Favourite Things), MyStik (Scrapbook Adhesives) and Dimensionals (SU).

Thanks for visiting!

Blogged to: Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival, Thriller - Michael Jackson, Psycho Killer - Talking Heads, Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Time Warp - Little Nell, Patricia Quinn & Richard O'Brien.

Just Add Ink #132 - Sketch Challenge

Well, it's turned into something of a drama of a morning for me...car woes that involved last minute dropping off of the car to have the brakes inspected and fixed (not a nice feeling when it appears that your vehicle is inclined NOT to stop). This in turn involved taxi rides for Thumper and I, phone calls to and fro, negotiations regarding prices and times, and just general chaos in my head. You know how that goes?!

It is a wonder that I had anything left to give...but I felt inspired to have a go at this week's Just Add Ink #132 Sketch Challenge:

I know Father's Day is coming up....so I took this opportunity to get myself organised before the day...

Photographed this one inside again, so it is pretty bodgily lit. If I get a chance I'll try it again later (after I've walked half way across town with Thumper to pick up the errant car and then picked up the kiddos from school and then done the food shopping for our dinner guests tonight...so maybe tomorrow ;-).

I have turned the sketch on its side and I've added a border too. I feel like it is missing something, it's kinda simple looking, but I think hubby will like it just as it is (especially being the huge fan of the sea that he is), besides...you can't get much more extravagant than a glimmering/glittering life buoy....can you?

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Pool Party (textured), Island Indigo (textured), Basic Black and Whisper White (all SU),
Paper: Fly a Kite Sky Paper (My Mind's Eye), Glimmer Paper Red and Glimmer Paper Silver (SU),
Ink: Basic Black Classic Ink (SU),
Stamps: Men of Life (PTI),
Punches: Jewellery Tag (SU),
Accessories: Life Preserver Die (Taylored Expressions), Wave Border Die (Taylored Expressions), Real Red Brads (SU), Scrapbook Adhesives MyStik (Scrapbook Boutique).

Gotta run!

ETA: Some brighter photos...

Blogged to: Light My Fire - Club House & Club House, Parlez Vous Francais? - Art vs. Science and Every Little Thing She Does is Magic - The Police.

Just Add Mae...

Feeling a bit mojo-poor of late, so I thought that Just Add Ink's latest challenge...Just Add Mae would help lift my craftin' spirits. I am afraid that I did not really do Mae's beautiful work justice...but I did try. I tried hard, but I think it still fell flat. Not much I can do 'bout that though...at 7pm on a Sunday night. It is what it is!

I chose to use an old, old post of Mae's...from way back in 2008 in fact...where she showed us how to make a Z-fold card. I've never made one before...so it was fun to learn how. It wasn't Mae's instructions that led to my downfall though. Just...I don't know...I was feeling scrambled or something!

Here is my creation (the second one)...

If you look closely you can see where I have paper pierced some of the bunting in error. I won't even explain to you how I managed to do that. Just know that I was doing things ar*e about, and paid for it!

Here is the first card I made...and it just felt wrong...but I'm going to put it here because, well it took ages to make, and Miss 8 likes it :-)

I also did some real-life stitching on the above card (another thing I'd noticed on at least one of Mae's cards)...but mine started unravelling at the corner (even though I'd taped it at the back), and I was pretty bummed about that!

Like I said...it is what it is!
Sigh...

Blogged to: From the Music - The Potbelleez, Let's Go - The Cars, Tainted Love - Soft Cell and Superstition - Stevie Wonder.

Pirate Punch Art Shadowbox Card...

This week's challenge at Just Add Ink is to 'Just Add Beaches'! How could I possibly go past such a warm and sunny sounding opportunity? Living in a cold, palm tree-less, land-locked territory like we do, I enjoy thinking about the beach...even if it means re-creating it with cardboard (how sad does that sound ;-)!

I must also quickly give a big thanks to: Kim, for inspiring me with her pirate-themed card, check it out here, and Nikki, for inspiring me with her port-holed card, see it here. Thanks ladies!

Now, I've got ink all over my hands, glue dots under my fingernails, little bits of dimensional backing paper stuck to my clothes, and 'Wind Beneath My Wings' playing over and over in my head. I think I need a glass of wine!

Hope you had a good weekend,

Just a Punchy little Doodlebug...

I had a little play at the craft desk (that is, those bits of the craft desk that weren't covered by an avalanche of stuff) last night for the Just Add Ink 106 - Sketch Challenge...

This is what I made...

 Pretty happy with how it turned out. I may have gone a bit overboard on distressing the fence palings. That fence looks like it'll keel over in the next light breeze (if the giant bug doesn't knock it over first ;-).

Which brings me to the bug. Obviously it is mean't to be a ladybug, not a doodlebug, but it was the most appropriate sentiment that I could find, and who knows what a doodlebug really looks like anyway? Not me, that's for sure. Wikipedia says that 'doodlebug' may refer to: Armadillidiidae, the pill bug family in the woodlouse suborder...WT? Armadillidiidae?? Perhaps they happen to look a bit like ladybugs too! Gonna argue with me on this? Go right ahead :-).

We ventured out to the Canberra Show bright and early this morning, and the kids had a lovely time...

Notice the shiner? My dear little boy tried to fly out of his car seat at the library yesterday, and landed with a big splat on the asphalt...face first! He can still manage to ham it up for the camera though, bless his little heart.

JAI #103 Just Add Red and White

I managed to grab a few quiet minutes earlier this morning to make a card for the latest Just Add Ink challenge, JAI #103 - Just Add Red and White...

Let me tell you, it was no easy thing using just red and white. I have several false-start focal 'bits' scattered across my desk, and I almost binned the whole lot in frustration at one point, but after fiddling for so long, I wasn't going to let it beat me.

You may have noticed that I have not been putting up recipes for my projects of late. I have got to the stage where I don't remember what most of the SU products are called anymore, and can't be bothered looking them all up, especially when it is not apparent to me that anyone actually read that stuff! If anyone ever does want to know what I've used, please feel free to leave a comment or send an email and as long as I have some way of contacting you back (and can work out what it was that I used etc)...I'll reply asap.

I also have another of Thumper's birthday photos that I was playing with recently. I have run a whole bunch of Pioneerwoman actions over this shot, and I liked the end result.

See ya!

Leaving the leaves until last...

In yesterday's post I mentioned at the end that I thought leaves on the tree might be appropriate. Well, I took a few minutes to have a fiddle this morning, and I think leaves are just what it needed! Being that it is a tree, this should not have been as big a light-bulb moment for me as it was (derrrrrrrrrrrrr)!

Those leaves were tricksy little blighters to stick on, I can tell you! I have managed to get little mangled bits of dimensionals underneath them. Who knows how long they'll stay there though. Note to self: Don't leave card outside in a breeze ;-).

So what do you think? Better?

Have a great weekend,

JAI #101 - Sketch Challenge

Thank goodness for sites like Just Add Ink, and their droves of inspirational design team members to get the poor old mojo-less hordes craftin' and creatin'.

This week's JAI challenge #101 is a Sketch Challenge, and being a nice layered and symmetrical one, it suited me perfectly. Thanks JAI!

I had plenty of sticky fingered help with this creation, but you prolly can't tell that from here (lucky you). Suffice to say, if you cut out a few extra die cuts while you're at it, your busy little almost-one year old helper will have a jolly ol' time eating those while you quickly adhere the rest of your battered creation back together again ;-). Lucky I was using SU's specialty, cover-weight, designer series cardstock...it must have some nutritional value right??

I have added crystal effects all over the tree trunk, but I have great difficulty proving that to you here. The rub-on is one of SU's 'melts-like-butter-onto-the page' rub-ons...from the chit chat set I think.

The little silver butterflies would not have been my first choice embellishments. What I'd really have liked to have used was some of Papertrey Ink's Little Bitty Bird die-cuts. However, I don't have that die, and I am having something of a Papertrey Ink tantrum right now. I am still waiting for the anniversary set that I earned in 2010/11. I have been communicating with them since last October about this, and now they just completely ignore me. My last three (very polite) communications have gone unanswered (after having received their email auto-reply...so I know they received my message), and still no anniversary set. Maybe their customer service team are still on Christmas holidays, who knows? My credit card says I should be thanking them for ignoring me...it is feeling all light and unburdened right now...but I'm still feeling pretty miffed at their lack of courtesy (a simple explanation as to why they felt I shouldn't have the set that I earned following their guidelines would suffice). I hope to get over it sooner or later. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest though.

Best go make the most of the rest of Thumper's afternoon rest time. Might manage to squeeze in another row of crochet...or maybe clean the kitchen sink (Hhhhhhmmmmmm...decisions, decisions... which would you do?).

ETA 1: I think I might go and add a few leaves to this tree tomorrow. It looks like it needs a little something more!

ETA 2: Check out the result here....