Just Add Christmas

Over at Just Add Ink this week, it is time for challenge #43, and the challenge is to Just Add Christmas. Not such a hard challenge at this time of year!

My colours are a bit out of left-field for this project, but I am happy with the overall effect:

List of Ingredients:

Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Whisper White and Peach Parfait (all SU)
Ink: Poppy Parade Classic Ink (SU)
Stamps: Trees With Trimmings (PTI)
Accessories: Sugar Plum 8x8 Patterned Paper (PTI), Mistletoe Ribbon Originals (SU), Stocking Prints Die (PTI), Orchid Fine Cosmo Stampin' Glitter (SU), Violet Pure Wool Felt (Felt on the Fly), Red Glass Seed Beads (Miscellaneous), Dimensionals (SU), Mini Glue Dots (SU) and Tombow Mono Adhesive (Penwa).

I just sprinkled some of the Orchid Fine Cosmo Stampin' Glitter onto the Violet felt and kind of worried it in with a paintbrush. There is no other adhesive holding it on. The glitter just kind of sticks in the fibres of the felt. Of course if you went and gave it a good ol' scratch it'd all come off...but who is going to do that? It's not a scratch and sniff card!

The red micro beads are stitched along the top of the stocking. I was going to stitch them all over, but they were a tad on the fiddly side (understatement of the century)...I am glad that I didn't because I really like how the glitter looks on the felt!

Still raining and raining here. The garden is exploding out of all the beds, and I only go out there with a flame thrower...I'm worried about triffids ;-).

See ya!

(Blogged to: Straight Lines - Silverchair and Don't Change - INXS).

Cupcake Challenge

I don't actually need to have a good reason to want to stamp and create with cupcakes as the theme...but in this case, I did have a good reason! There was a Cupcake Challenge on the We Stamp for Lara forum last weekend, in honour of Miss Lara's second birthday! It is still not too late to join in this fabulous, month-long forum, check out the details on Madonna's blog here.

List of Ingredients:

Cardstock: Red Riding Hood, Pink Pirouette (textured and plain), Tangerine Tango (textured and plain) and Whisper White (all SU)
Ink: Riding Hood Red Classic Ink and Whisper White Craft Ink (all SU)
Stamps: Big Bold Birthday (retired SU) and Birthday Wish (retired SU)
Accessories: Sponges (SU), Big Bold Cupcakes Dies (SU), Crystal Effects (SU), Liquid Pearls (Ranger), Pink Fine Supernova Glitter (SU), Scallop Edge Border punch (SU), Spellbinders Circle Dies, Crimper (SU), Dimensionals (SU), Tombow Mono Adhesive (Penwa) and Sticky Strip (SU).

I enjoyed every moment of making this card. In fact I may have even drooled thinking about how much I'd like to devour a cupcake that looked just like this!

I hope you had a lovely second birthday Miss Lara!

Have a great weekend,

(Blogged to: We No Speak Americano - Yolando B Cool & Dcup and Bulletproof - La Roux).

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #34

It is has been raining and dreary here all day. We've watched some DVDs, we've been to the hairdresser, the dentist, and the shops. We had lunch at the Hyperdome...because even I felt the need to be out and about!

In order to help lift the spirits a little, I also managed to sneak in a little creative time for Karen Giron's latest Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge:


...and this is the card that I made:


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

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink
Accessories: On Board Trimmings (retired), Close to Cocoa Patterns DSP (retired), Riding Hood Red 1 1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon, Chit Chat rub-ons (retired), Eyelet Border punch, versamark, heat and stick powder, heat tool, Fine Supernova Stampin' Glitter, SNAIL adhesive and dimensionals.

The final card measures 5 3/4" square. I have covered the chipboard in Chocolate Chip classic ink, then versamark, then heat and stick powder, then in oodles of brown Stampin' Glitter. Needless to say, I am covered in the stuff ;-).


I hope that you are having a sparkly afternoon, even if it is raining in your neck of the woods too.

Thanks for visiting my little corner of cyberspace :-).
Sam.

ETA: I just walked past my craft table and looked at this card and suddenly thought...who makes brown snow flakes? So I've been sitting here, watching the 'Farmer Wants a Wife' and mulling over brown snow flakes. I've decided that the dilemma of brown snow flakes is not really so dilemma-ful, as I do live in Australia...and our Christmas falls in the middle of a usually sweltering summer...so of COURSE our snow flakes would be brown...scorched in 40 degree heat! DUH!! ;-).

Traveler's Inspiration Challenge:{one}

One of my favourite bloggers, Tina of Travelingmama has started her own creative challenge...the Traveler's Inspiration Challenge.

First, I want to say a huge thanks to Tina because I think this is a fabulous idea. I love looking through my photos of trips abroad....it is one of the reasons I've been posting those clips from allposters...I like looking up places that I have been and seeing how other people have captured their beauty/mystery/allure.

The first challenge photo is a stunning combination of colour and design...not to mention the texture of the bling!


I found it very inspiring, and as I first saw it while sitting up in bed on a Sunday morning...I immediately thought of slipping my feet into a pair of those dainty little slippers and frolicking around the house (luckily I don't have any, so the neighbours were spared that spectacle...but you, on the other hand...now have the visual firmly planted in your head...don't you? Sorry ;-).

I did eventually leap out of bed, and went hunting through my beads, microbeads, glitters, bling and In Colours...they ALL wanted to play. In the end I limited myself to glitters...but I did use LOTS ;-).





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

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss plain cardstock and Whisper White textured cardstock
Paper: Bella Rose Designer Series paper
Accessories: Bright Delights rub-ons, Sweet sticky cuts, Fine Supernova Stampin' Glitter, Fine Cosmo Stampin' Glitter, SNAIL adhesive and dimensionals.

I must say that I good part of today's renewed Craftin' enthusiasm comes from having attended a fun workshop last night (thanks Kim!)...but more on that later ;-).

Have a wonderful day, wherever you may be in the world!

Sam.

PS. I have been meaning to say a very big thank you to everyone who left such lovely commments on my last two posts. You are all very sweet!!!

PPS. I have also been meaning to explain the lack of watermark and photoshopping of many of my more recent images...as you may remember, my laptop expired some time ago, and now I am using my husband's. He does not have Photoshop on here, and I do not have easy access to most of my files anyway (like watermarks etc). Its getting old real quick...but what can a girl do? PLEAD for mercy, BEG forgiveness and GROVEL for a replacement powerboard? It won't be happening any time soon I'm afraid :-(.

Beautiful cards by Kim...

I just wanted to show you these lovely cards that we recently received from my friend Kim:


You can read about the ingredients for this FANTASTIC birthday card on Kim's blog here. Is this not a stunning card???



This one has not made it on to Kim's website yet, but when it does, I'll link it here so you can see what she has used. Unfortunately my photo has not picked up the beautiful Dazzling Diamonds bling effect on the Eastern Blooms. It looks amazing in real life! You also may not be able to tell that it is a slider card, with the flower mounted 5 rolling back and forth when you tip the card. So much work has gone into this card.

...and last, but not least...


This one is probably my favourite, and that may be in part because it was for me (the others being for the kids' birthdays), but I also love the flowers, which have Dazzling Diamonds on the Pumpkin Pie areas of their petals. I'm a sucker for glittery cards ;-).

The colour combo is such that those flowers pretty much jump off the card, and the total combination of effects is just perfect. You can see this card on Kim's site, here .

Thanks so much for our lovely cards Kim. We all feel very special, and I have them on display on our sideboard, so we can enjoy them.

Hope everyone has a great day!
Sam.

PS. Thanks for all your lovely comments on my Mermaid birthday cake and the Mermaid party invites. Yes, it was a lot of effort...but I had a huge amount of fun doing it. Mum thinks I must have felt party deprived as a child ;-).

I should post pictures of the kitchen sink, or the laundry in the lead up to party time...lets just say lots of jobs fell to the side in an effort to put that party together...the only 'wonder' is that we have anything other than party food to eat this week ;-).

Little Mermaid Party Invites...

I was up late last night (and will be again tonight) finishing off some birthday party invites for Miss 5's upcoming party.

Last month I asked her to choose a cake from the Women's Weekly children's cake book, and she chose the mermaid...so I decided to go with a mermaid-themed party, and this is the invite that I came up with:




I got the idea for the mermaid from Splitcoaststampers. I have seen a slightly different looking mermaid on Ngaire Anderson's blog too.

I have used a variety of Stampin' Up! punches for my Little Mermaid, including the: 1 inch circle, large oval, scallop circle, word window, trio flower and full heart. I have used cardstock in Old Olive for her tail, Ruby Red for her hair, Blush Blossom for her skin and Orchid Opulence for her 'shells'.

The glitter on her tail is from the Fine Supernova glitter collection, and has been adhered using crystal effects. The 'shell' in her hair is secured with a clear rhinestone brad.

I'm pretty pleased with the way she turned out. What do you think? Does she look like Ariel to you?

Hope you are having a great week.
Sam.

PS. When I asked my daughter what she thought of the invite she said she thought it looked like Ariel was waving with one hand and hiding a present behind her back with the other! How cute :-).

Not a sketch challenge card...

I was mucking around today, trying to make a card for a sketch challenge...but in the end my card bore very little resemblance to the sketch I was using...DOH! I guess the point is that it got me creating...even if I couldn't follow those few simple instructions ;-).

Here is my card:


Yes, I'm having a bit of a glitter thing right now. And yes, it is all over the house too! Its very pretty ;-).

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

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red (textured), Chocolate Chip (textured) and Very Vanilla
Paper: Candy Lane Designer Series Paper
Accessories: Chit Chat Rub-ons, retired chipboard, Versamark, Heat N' Stick Powder, Heat Tool, Fine Supernova Glitter, Chocolate Chip and Ruby Red Stampin' Write Markers, Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon, SNAIL adhesive, sticky strip and Dimensionals.

I also wanted to show you a photo of my little man. I found some great FREE Photoshop Actions by Ree Drummond (thepioneerrwoman)...check out her fabulous website here. I can't remember exactly which actions I applied to get this effect, but it certainly incorporates B&W Beauty and Quick Edge Burn.


I am very pleased with the way it turned out. Thanks so much Ree!

Hope you had a great day.
Sam.

PS. If you need a new watermark for your photos, you should check out Karen Giron's fabulous selection here, available for only USD2.00. I'm thinking I might need a change soon too ;-).

PPS. Western NSW girls...we have your red dirt here! It is currently swirling around Canberra in great big gusts (and me with four loads of washing on the line :-(.

Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #49

When I first saw Kristina's colours this week, I didn't think I was up to the challenge:


But after a successful Easter Egg Hunt yesterday I was feeling pretty much up to ANYTHING! ;-).

I pulled out the colours last night...and put together the base while I was watching Bones (it'll be a NEW episode next week...YAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!). I couldn't work out what the main image or sentiment was going to be though so I went to bed a bit disheartened. When I got up this morning I decided on chipboard and glitter...and this is what I came up with:


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

Cardstock: Basic Black (textured), Whisper White (textured), Kiwi Kiss and Rose Red
Ink: Rose Red and Pacific Point Classic Ink
Accessories: Patterns Designer Series Paper in Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss, Fine Supernova Stampin' Glitter in Pink and Aqua, Chipboard (retired), Pigtails Ribbon Originals, Chit Chat Rub-ons, Crimper, Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive, Dimensionals and SNAIL adhesive.

Thanks for looking. Gotta run now, we are going for a bushwalk!

Sam.

Sweet Always

I started playing with my new catalogue goodies yesterday...and the first thing I was drawn to is all the pretty, pretty papers. I was doing my best Golum impersonation in fact ;-).

...and this is what I made:


Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up!):

Stamps: Wow Flowers
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie and Pretty in Pink
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic Ink
Accessories: Sweet Always DSP, Crimper, Scallop Circle punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, 1 1/4 inch circle punch, 1 inch circle punch, Supernova Glitter, Pigtails Ribbon Originals, Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, Crystal Effects, paper piercer, SNAIL adhesive and Dimensionals.

While I was outside taking pictures of the card this afternoon, I couldn't resist taking a snap of the magnificent day either...you can see the trees are starting to loose their leaves here:


Hope your day was great!
Sam.

Bella Butterfly

Thought I'd show you another card I have made using one of Bizzy Bec's lovely new stamps.

This little cutie is Bella Butterfly! I have cropped her a little...to give a portrait feeling. I love how this card turned out so bright and pretty:


Here is a little close-up so you can see some of the detail. I have coloured Bella's dress using a Copic marker and then I have painted over it using Liquid Pearls in White Opal. There are also Liquid Pearls on the central spots on her wings.

I have added some Stampin' Up! chunky sprinkes in pink over her headband, and have also cut out a second set of her wings and mounted them above the first using dimensionals:


Here are the Copic colours I have used:


Ingredient List:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Rose Red, Summer Sun and Whisper White
Ink: Basic Brown Classic Ink
Stamps: Bizzy Bec's Bella Butterfly and Stampin' Up! Canvas background
Accessories: Swirls cuttlebug folder, edge distresser, 1 inch Rose Red double stitched ribbon, styled silver Hodgepodge, Stampin' Up! rub-ons, Copic markers, Liquid Pearls in white opal, Stampin' Up! chunky sprinkles, crystal effects, dimensionals, SNAIL and sticky strip.

Thanks for dropping by :-).
Sam.

Crew Kids Girl Simply Scrappin'

I have been meaning to play with the Crew Kids Girl Simply Scrappin' kit ever since I saw this card (third one from the top of the post) by Nancy Riley.

So yesterday I got my Crew Kids Girl out and started chopping it up (for some reason that really, really hurt...I love pretty papers...WHOLE...but I got over it ;-).

I have made two cards with it so far...and I am sure there will be more on the way. I LOVE the colour combo so much!




Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up!):

Cardstock: Wild Wasabi textured, Regal Rose textured, Whisper White, Basic Gray textured

Paper: Crew Kids Girl Simply Scrappin' Designer Series Paper

Accessories: Crew Kids Girl Simply Scrappin' kit, circle and square metal edge tags, circle rhinestone brads, cutter kit edge distresser, crystal effects, A Perfect Day rub-ons, chunky sprinkles, wild wasabi double-stitched ribbon, SNAIL and dimensionals.

Have a great day,
Sam.

There's no place like home...

...or if you are Judy Garland's foot, there's no place like the inside of a ruby red, sparkly shoe.

In case you have no idea what I am talking about...four words...Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge, where this week's challenge movie is: The Wizard of Oz....of course...because, because, because, because, because...


This week the girls also added the challenge of making a metallic component a part of our projects.

This is my contribution...I think I will try and make something a little more 'serious' later this week...but in the meantime, I thought this would be cute:


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

Cardstock: Real Red
Accessories: SNAIL, two-way glue pen, romantic red glitter, glue dots, dimensionals, small cello bags, turquoise grosgrain ribbon (retired) and Pascal's Columbines.
I figured that Romantic Red glitter would pass for a metallic component! I think this would make a nice party favour for a Wizard of Oz-themed party. I went out looking for blue lollies, because I wanted them to represent the blue of Dorothy's socks.

You can download the template for this shoe from this website.

I'll be back later this week, when I've figured out what I'll really do...

Sam.

Shades of Blue...

We have some birthday's coming up shortly for some little friends of ours (CSCC girls, if you are reading, I'm not talking about hobbits here ;-), so I thought I'd try and get a head start on their cards.

I have also recently stumbled on another challenge blog called Our Creative Corner, and this week's challenge is to use make a card using only two shades of blue and a neutral colour...check out the details and some beautiful samples here.

So last night, while watching 'While You Were Sleeping' I made one of the birthday cards that I need, using the OCC colours:


Ingredients (all products Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Textured and plain Night of Navy, textured and plain Whisper White
Paper: Spring Silhouettes and Notebook Designer Series Paper
Ink: Night of Navy and Soft Sky Classic Inks
Stamps: Classic Numbers and Space Ships & Robots by My Cute Stamps
Accessories: A Perfect Day rub-ons, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots emboss folder, Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities, Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Crop-a-dile, clear emboss powder, heat tool, two-way glue pen, dazzling diamonds glitter, 1/2" circle punch, SNAIL, dimensionals and craft knife.

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you have a good day!
Sam.

PS. Speaking of shades of blue...if you ever need a really good chuckle you should check out Lydia's blog Understand Blue. This lady is not only a very talented stamper...she tells the funniest stories. Thanks so much for making me laugh Lydia, I really look forward to your posts popping up in my reader!

Mojo Monday 68

I've never participated in one of these Mojo Monday sketch challenges before, but was feeling in need of some Mojo...and it happened to pop up on my Google Reader.

This is the Mojo Monday Sketch #68 for Monday 5th January 2009:


...and this is my card:


Now, first I have to give thanks to the wonderfully talented Karen Thomas. This fabulous card she recently made was my inspiration for the colours.

The list of ingredients for this card is:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Rose Red and Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Bali Breeze Designer Series Paper and Watercolour paper
Stamps: Hero Arts - Seize The Cupcake and Stampin' Up! Family Phrases
Inks: Timber Brown Stazon, Stampin' Up! Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie & Regal Rose Classic Ink
Accessories: Stampin' Up! 1" Rose Red Double Stitched Ribbon, Pebbles Inc. I kan-dee Orange ribbon, Stampin' Up! Styled Silver Hodgepodge, miscellaneous orange eyelets, Crystal Effects, White Opal Liquid Pearls, AED Pink Soda Glitter, Stampin' Up! Ticket Corner Punch, Crimper, Aquapainter, Crop-a-dile, SNAIL adhesive, Dimensionals and Glue Dots.


Now, my kids are stage diving off the couch...onto each other...so I'd better go see about that ;-).

Have a great day,
Sam.

Mamma Mia

This week's Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge movie is Mamma Mia:


It is another movie I had not seen until yesterday! At least it was very easy to find at the video shop ;-).

The movie is pretty funny and quirky...and I tried to make my card a wee bit quirky too:


My inspiration was the opening scene showing the island of Kalokairi and the ocean at night, while Sophie is out posting her three letters. I loved the deep blues and blacks of the ocean, sky and island in that sequence...very romantic!

I have used some beautiful dark blue, shimmery paper (of unknown origin) to represent the midnight blue night sky and ocean (the shimmery paper hopefully giving the impression of a starry night sky and its reflection on the water). I ran the ocean piece through my cuttlebug with a wood grain embossing folder in order to give it some ocean-like texture (I don't have any water texture embossing dies). I will note that due to my having made the cuttlebug sandwich a bit too thick the paper tore in several places, but luckily that only adds to the ocean-like texture (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it).

I punched a little moon out of white cardstock and then covered it in White Opal Liquid Pearls. I also painted some of the White Opal Liquid Pearls onto the ocean to give the moon's reflection. After it had dried, I painted on some Crystal Effects and then sprinkled on some of Stampin' Up!'s Chunky Sprinkles in Crystal Iris. Finally I added some translucent white acrylic hearts (also out of my stash of miscellaneous embellishments) on the moon reflection (to tie in with the theme of my card - Follow Your Heart...or a moonbeam...whichever works for you ;-):


The island is a torn piece of Basic Black cardstock. The sentiment is a Stampin' Up! rub-on from the Eastern Elegance pack. The two hearts are punched from Real Red cardstock (using an old Creative memories heart punch) and then covered in Ruby Red Liquid Pearls. I added some Crystal Effects, Crystal Iris Chunky Sprinkles and another smaller, Ruby Red covered heart in the centre of each, for a bit of bling and dimension:


This creation took a while to come together. I already had all my mess spread out on the dining table (much to my husband's dismay).....but it gives me the most room. I started my card, decided I didn't like where it is going...walked away and did something else for a while, walked past it a few times, decided to use something else, sat and tinkered for a while, left, came back, left, came back, had lunch, hung some washing, tinkered, had afternoon tea with the little ones, sat back down and finally finished it...and about 5 hours later I was wondering why it had taken me so long...DOH! I am very happy with the way it turned out though :-)....so it was worth it!

It is a bit warm here today (32 degrees celcius or about 91 Farenheit)...but my Flannel Flowers are still looking pretty:


Have a great day,
Sam.

Happy New Year!

I hope that 2009 is full of happiness and good health for you all!!

I just have a couple of pics to share with you. I was motivated to use pinks, blues and greys by this little Pumpkin Patch skirt I got for my daughter:


I scrunched up a whole bunch of cardstock, trying to recreate a fabric effect. The idea never quite came together, but I had fun trying:


Materials used:
Textured Basic Gray cardstock, Going Gray cardstock, Rose Red cardstock, Basic Gray cardstock, Regal Rose cardstock, Cuttlebug Dies and Folders, Eastern Elegance Rub-Ons, Filigree Designer Brads, Dimensionals and SNAIL adhesive.

For this next card I used some of the scrunched up cardstock, punched out various sized hearts using some old punches I have here, glued them onto a piece of cardstock and then painted them with Crystal Effects for the high gloss finish. The heart is a piece of Stampin' Up! chipboard which I have coloured with Tempting Turquoise classic ink and then covered with Light Blue Chunky Sprinkles:




Materials Used:
Rose Red cardstock, Tempting Turquoise cardstock, Regal Rose cardstock, Linen Background stamp, Tempting Turquoise classic ink, Tempting Turquoise brads, Rose Red 1" Double-Stitched Ribbon, On Board Accents chipboard, Crystal Effects, Light Blue Chunky Sprinkles Glitter, Dimensionals and SNAIL adhesive.

And last for tonight, I wanted to show you a pic of a beautiful visitor we had in our garden this morning. I did a bit of research, and apparently this is an Orchard Swallowtail Butterfly - Papilo Aegeus:


She was sunning herself on my Photinia hedge. Isn't she magnificent?

All the best,
Sam.