Baby Happy Whales...

I got some beautiful happy mail this week...some new Stampin' Up! samples from my lovely friend Di. I tidied up my desk and spent several fun-filled hours crafting and getting inky. Thanks so much Di. You really helped kick my mojo back into gear :-).

I needed a new arrival congrats card (what a happy thing to be needing eh?)...and the Happy Whale Clearlits Die and oh-so-pretty Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP seemed like the perfect decorations for just that purpose. What do you think?

For the new arrival I coupled the pink 'girl' card above with a lovely gift from a great local store...Novita Gifts. The gift comprised a beautifully soft and colourful baby blankie, and fun painted name letters for her bedroom door.

Thanks again Di...I loved my package!

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Pacific Point and Whisper White (Stampin' Up!),
Patterned Paper: Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP (Stampin' Up!),
Ink: Basic Black (Stampin' Up!),
Stamps: Curly Cute (Stampin' Up),
Punches: 1 1/4" Square Punch - for banner ends (Stampin' Up!), Owl Builder - for whale eyes (Stampin' Up!) and large Corner Rounder punch (misc),
Dies: Happy Whale Clearlits Die (Stampin' Up!),
Accessories: Paper Piercer, White Gel Pen, Melon Mambo 3/8" Striped Organdy Ribbon (Stampin' Up!), Dimensionals and SNAIL adhesive.

Blogged to: MasterChef - the Professionals.

Say It In...Shades of Blue

Lucky for me Annabelle Stamps also has a blue challenge going on this week, Say It In...Shades of Blue:

How serendipitous! I still had all my blues scattered over the desk from the Twisted Tuesday Challenge (no I do not tidy as I go...do many crafters do this? Let me know if you do), so I was good to go!

Here is the end result...

It is very tiresome to photograph this type of card fold (it flops about all over the place), but worth the effort in the end. The final card measures 4 x 4 inches.

Hope you find some serendipity on your travels this week! Thanks for visiting...

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Marina Mist and Whisper White (all SU),
Ink: Pacific Point Classic Ink (SU),
Stamps: Boys Party (Annabelle Stamps),
Punches: 1 3/4 inch Circle and 1 1/4 inch Circle (SU),
Accessories: Cuts By Design - Shapes 1 (Annabelle Stamps), White Gel Pen (misc), Dimensionals (SU), Paper Piercer (misc) and Waves/Bubbles Impression Plate (Taylored Expressions).

Blogged to: Bad - Michael Jackson, Bulletproof - La Roux, Dance Hall Days - Wang Chung and The Edge of Glory - Lady GaGa.

Thanks For Bee-ing A Great Teacher...

So I've spent a little time re-thinking my teacher-gift cards! I've now made three of these cards, so this will be the card they get...regardless of whether it can be identified or not ;-). I think they'll get my drift...

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight and Vellum Cardstock (all Stampin' Up!)
Punches: Two-Step Owl [for the bee eyes] and Medium Oval [for the bee legs] (both from Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Nestie Eggs (Spellbinders), Nestie Labels 10 (Spellbinders), Nestie Blossoms 1 (Spellbinders), Swiss Dots Embossing Folders (Provocraft), D'vine Swirls Embossing Folder (Provocraft), Sunshine Impression Plate (PTI), Neutrals Brads (Stampin' Up!), Wireworks (Stampin' Up!) and Olivia Alphabet Dies (Provocraft).

Gotta go back to watching Mystic Pizza now...I'm enjoying the big hair and 80's flashbacks!

ETA: I was so tired when I wrote this up last night that I forgot to add that the ...For Bee-ing a Great Teacher sentiment inside the card is just one I typed up in Photoshop, then printed onto cardstock and die-cut using my nesties. I didn't have that sentiment on any of my stamps or rub-ons.

Also note that my Cuttlebug sandwich for the vellum embossing was a bit too tight on the last bee's wings....that is what has caused the random creases in the vellum, plus the fact that I had the embossing mat direct on my vellum...prolly should have a paper shim between the embossing mat and the vellum (but I'd had enough by then and wasn't prepared to re-make them...besides I think it gives them a bit of character ;-).

Blogged to: Mystic Pizza (1988).

I'm thinking you'll know what this is...

 ...Oh please, PLEASE know what it is!

I think the inside layer needs a little more bling or something. I'm still thinking about that.

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip and Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Papers: Patterns In Colours DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink (Stampin' Up)
Stamps: Yummy (Stampin' Up!)
Punches: Scalloped Circle (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Tin foil (misc), Labels Fourteen Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Nestie Squares (Spellbinders), Nestie Long Rectangles (Spellbinders), Starry Night Embossing Folder (Craft Concepts) and Traffic Jam Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug).


Sooooooooo, it's a bit less ambiguous than my poor old, totally misunderstood cocoa pod. Isn't it? I hope so, I'm kinda running out of mojo here. It is another easel card, so there is still the distinct chance no-one will be able to work out how it opens/works, but I'm going to have to live with that possibility.

Just writing this post up has made me hungry. I've got some delish minestrone on the stove and a crusty fresh bread roll to go with it....drool. Guess where I'm headed...

Have a lovely afternoon.

Blogged to: Put Your Hands Up For Detroit - Fedde le Grand, California Gurls - Katy Perry and It's The End of the World As We Know It - R.E.M.

Cocoa Pod MkII

This morning, while the little man was asleep (he still is actually), I decided I'd quickly re-make the cocoa pod from yesterday (I realised late last night that the beans are the individual little do-dahs inside the pod...ooops). I have used up my last sheet of Early Expresso to make this one, and I really do think it looks better.

With the Koko Black tin there next to it, I think you can see more clearly the effect I was hoping to achieve. The cocoa pod and big leaf is on their packaging. Now it looks less like a coconut...doesn't it?

There are a few other small changes too. I lost the ribbon, It was annoying me. I hand scored and distressed the outer pod, I like it better than the distressed stripes embossing effect. I used a Craft Concepts Woodgrain embossing folder to do the Early Expresso layers on the inside of the card. I also hand scored and shaped the leaf and left off the So Swirly embossing there, it looks more leaf-like to me now. The two little Close to Cocoa ovals on the inside (used to prop up the easel) are supposed to be individual cocoa beans, from inside the pod, not choc-coated almonds!

I am very happy with the end result, and very, very happy that my leopard spots embossing folder resembles cocoa beans in a pod so well...whodathunkit?

HMmmmmmm, so it still looks a little like a coconut here. Sigh. It's the best I can do ;-).

Have a lovely day!

Blogged to: Sweet About Me - Gabriella Cilmi, Hammerhead - James Reyne, Love Shack - The B-52's and Total Eclipse Of The Heart - Bonnie Tyler.

I hope you can tell what this is...

I'm kinda using you guys as guinea pigs. I'm hoping you can tell right up front what this is...

NOPE...not a poop on a stick! Sorry for the horrendous colour blow-out...that is Kiwi Kiss up there, not that you'd know it from my pic. Do you need another pic to help you make up your mind?

Yes, it is on an easel card...whatever it is. No, it isn't a dead olive! Ooooh look, there's a 'mini-me' on the inside too.

Would it help you to know that it was being delivered with a beautiful tin of Koko Black Chocolate Shavings? Quite simply the richest, most decadent and delicious hot chocolate I have ever tasted. Most likely the most delicious hot chocolate known to mankind (this is my story...prove me wrong ;-).

If you're still stumped...I've blown it big-time, and you should click away right now (and I'll hang my head in shame)...

It's a COCOA POD!

I have to make at least four of these babies in the next few weeks. They are to be teacher gifts (I'm fairly confident they don't frequent my blog...so I should be safe with the spoiler)! But if you couldn't tell what it was, then perhaps I should re-think my strategy. I don't think it'd be nice for the teachers to think I was giving them dead olives (or any other icky stuff) as part of a thank you. That'd give the wrong impression entirely. These teachers rock! Totally. I want them to feel appreciated.

I plan on scoring a central vein in the Kiwi Kiss leaf next time, I think it needs that. The cocoa bean shell and stem will be in Early Expresso in the final products, not Choc Chip. I just didn't have enough of that on hand today. Early Expresso matches the Koko Black packaging perfectly.

The thanks die-cut sentiment was a real shocker to stick down. I ended up picking little glue globs off the end of my snail with my paper piercer and delicately sticking them to the back of the die-cut in random places to hold it down...talk about labour intensive!

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Kiwi Kiss and Confetti White (all Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip and Kiwi Kiss Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Punches: Small Oval and Blossom Builder (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Ovals Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Distressed Stripes and So Swirly Embossing Folders (Provo Craft) and Leopard Print Embossing Folder (Darice), Olivia Alphabet Dies (for the 'thanks' Provo Craft), Chocolate Chip brads (Stampin' Up!) and the green ribbon is also an old one of SUs, from a promo I think (maybe SAB?).

The main stem and large leaf are hand cut. I didn't have a leaf die or punch that looked right. The central pod split has also bean hand cut (a ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...I crack myself up). It must be time for me to go now.

Ciao, ciao!

Blogged to: Till The World Ends - Britney Spears, Discolights - Darren Styles, You Get What You Give - New Radicals and The Key, The Secret - Urban Cookie Collective.

Homemade Thongs...

I hope you didn't come looking here for the wrong reason... In Australia thongs are what we call our (generally) cheap, rubber footwear. Great for wearing to the beach, but not the sort of thing you'd wear for a night out on the town! I believe that they are also known as flip-flops or jandals in some other countries.

Now that the tricky business is all sorted, the reason I am posting today is to take part in the colourQ challenge #138:

I was inspired to take part in this week's challenge after seeing a groovy entry by Jo Eades in my Google Reader this morning. Thanks for the inspiration Jo!

As the challenge image is a rather glam shoe, I thought I'd try and make my card a shoe too. This is what I came up with:

I had to sketch out the thong base and parts by hand, but I think they came out pretty well. I had one or two false-starts with engineering the easel mechanism for this one, but I managed to get it right eventually. It was fun, and very rewarding to have it work properly in the end!

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Kraft, Pool Party (Textured), More Mustard and Confetti White (all by Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Sahara Sand and Poppy Parade (Stampin' Up!) and Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Birthday Wish (Stampin' Up!) and Flower (Misc.)
Accessories: Textured Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!), White Gel Pen, Paper Piercer, Floral Dies (Misc.), Number Die (Misc.) and Rhinestone Brad (Stampin' Up!).

Hope the rest of your Sunday is quiet and relaxing!

Blogged to: Total Control - The Motels, All the Lovers - Kylie Minogue, Into the Groove - Madonna and We Are Golden - MIKA.

Fun Folded Fanks For Friend...

I was surfing the web at some point in the recent past, and I came across a lovely card by Julie Davison...check it out here. I think it was probably a link from Kim Score's blog that got me to Julie's blog in the first place.

I needed a thank you card (for Patrice, after she gave me those lovely Smash goodies), so I thought I'd go ahead and use Julie's card as the inspiration for mine. I think it is a type of gate fold...but whatever it is, I was very happy with how it turned out!

This card was an absolute shocker to photograph as it was popping and flopping about all over the place. I ended up using some matching Washi Tapes to stop it from landing in the pool. I thought it was appropriate to have Washi in the photos, because that is what I gave Patrice by way of a small thank you gift. I didn't actually give her these Washis though...these were the prop-Washis, and they'd been used (couldn't really pass along half used Washis as a gift now...could I?).

The black background stamp behind the sentiment is by Waltzingmouse Stamps, and is one of their sets designed to go with the Spellbinders Nestabilities. I have also used Spellbinders Nested Labels Fourteen (love this set, it reminds me of clouds), which I got from Bizzy Becs. Bec is my go-to-gal for all things Spellbinders. The bling, patterned paper and cardstock is all by Stampin' Up!

Well, once again I have gone off on a tangent. If you made it this far, thanks and have a lovely afternoon.

Blogged to: That Don't Impress Me Much - Shania Twain, Hung Up - Madonna, Why Can't This Be Love - Van Halen and Get Ready for This - 2 Unlimited.

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.

Hey, Little Lady...

Just a rooley, trooley quick one today...

I have been dreaming of making an easel card ever since I set eyes on Bronwyn's simply gorgeous creations.

This is what I came up with over hot cross buns this weekend...

No time to explain...hubby is now marching about and pointedly looking at the time. I need to go!

Have a great day.

Blogged to: Where the Streets Have No Name - U2, Halo/Walking on Sunshine - Glee Cast, Addicted to Bass - Puretone and Vienna - Ultravox.