Some Pumpkin Pie and Ruby Red Happiness...

Same old story...all the stuff from Kristina's latest colour inspiration were still scattered about my desk...so I used them, again!


It is another simple card. I've used the Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder on the Pumpkin Pie layer. The main image has been stamped onto watercolour paper in Black Stazon, and watercoloured with an aquapainter and classic ink. I have highlighted the flowers with Crystal Effetcs, because I really enjoy doing that! The Sage Shadow ribbon is from the District ribbon originals pack.


I have a cold, so I'm gonna go curl up on the couch and watch K-PAX.

See ya,
Sam.

PS. Happy Halloween!

Oh, So Lovely

I love it when Kristina posts her color inspirations on a Wednesday...it means I actually have time to sit down and play (sometimes ;-).

This week's color inspiration colours are very beautiful:


My submission is only a simple card, but it took a good bit longer to make than I would have liked. I think my mojo is out visiting, but I kept going without it anyway:


The background cardstock is Ruby Red. I have stamped it with the crosshatch stamp in the 'Oh, So Lovely' stamp set. Then there are a whole bunch of layers, including a piece of cardstock vellum. The main image is also from the 'Oh, So Lovely' stamp set, and it has been stamped in Stazon onto Whisper White textured cardstock.

I have coloured the poppies using Stampin' Up! Watercolour Wonder Crayons. You will have to believe me when I tell you the stems of those poppies are Sage Shadow. I have also applied Crystal Effects to the flower heads.

Thanks for looking,
Sam.

A little Cirque-inspiration

We went to see Dralion here in the ACT last night. It was my first ever Cirque du Soleil experience, and WOW...it was amazing! Fantastic skill, wonderful choreography, gorgeous costumes, fabulous music, the list goes on...

So I've got cirque on the brain, and what better source of inspiration:


Oceane, goddess of water, queen of movement (my abs look a bit like hers ;-)...I WISH):


And then there is beautiful Azala, goddess of air, guardian of the sun:




But my favourite act was the single hand-balancing. This young girl balanced on one hand for AGES, and contorted herself into all sorts of shapes...she could eat dinner with her toes while lying on her belly watching telly if she felt the whim to do so. INCREDIBLE!


I hope you get to enjoy Dralion too...I can not wait until Cirque bring their next show to Canberra!

Have a lovely day,
Sam.

The Third Christmas Project

As promised, here are some pics of the third Christmas Project made at my class last week:



We were shown how to make these little two pocket bags out of a single sheet of 12 x 12 DSP at our last regional training event. I haven't seen any online instructions for them, but if you know of some please let me know and I'll post a link.

The holes for the bag handles are punched using the crop-a-dile, and the outer four holes have been set with Classy Brass Jumbo Eyelets. The ribbon for the bag handles is Real Red 3/8" Grosgrain, and the tags are stamped in Real Red classic ink using the 'Tags for All' stamp set in the current spring Mini (which ends at the end of November...so don't miss out on these groovy stamps).

If you are interested in coming along to one of these classes, just drop me a line at: navarino@yahoo.com and I will email you out the details of the next class. We usually do two cards per class, but for the last one we did three x 3D Christmas projects.

The class is usually held on a Wednesday night from 7:30 pm, although if enough people were interested I could negotiate another date/time. My house is in Kambah, ACT (southside). I charge $10 and this includes all materials for the cards or projects, including SNAIL adhesive, and envelopes for cards. I also provide tea, coffee and hot choc, and some light supper...which may even be a chocolate cake ;-).

Back tomorrow...
Sam.

PS. A big thank you to my blog buddy Karen in NZ for letting me know there is a tute on SCS for these Double-Pocket Bags!

Christmas Trees from Gemma

I thought you might like to check out some wonderful cards made by one of my lovely customers, Gemma:






Her cards are so lovely and bright. I especially love the little extras she includes on her cards, such as Crystal Effects applied to look like tinsel...such a cool idea!!

Thanks so much for sharing these with me Gemma.
Sam.

Christmas Projects class

Last Wednesday I held a Christmas projects class at my house, and these are two of the three projects that we made:


A boxy bag....the idea and instructions for which I got from Jody...thank you! The one on the left is essentially the same as Jody's boxy bag, but instead of sticking the side flaps at right angles, I have let them sit out at about 45 degrees to give a more baskety-bag look.

I've used Real Red cardstock, and decorated it with stamps from the Snow Burst stamp set, inked in Real Red Classic Ink. The DSP around the bottom of the boxy_bag is from the Dashing pack (LOVE this paper :-).

The feature embellishment on the front is a circular piece of chipboard which has been covered in Old Olive textured cardstock. Then there is a scalloped circle of Real red cardstock, then a large circle of Old Olive, then a small circle of Very Vanilla. The 'May you merry be very' sentiment is from the Merry, Merry stamp set.

I've punched small double holes across the top of the bag in the front and back, inserted eyelets and tied the bag with Gold Cord.

The second project we made was a bow. The instructions for making these bows can be found on Splitcoaststampers:



Again, we used Dashing DSP. These bows looks so effective, and really are not that time consuming to make.

We did make a third project, but I haven't photographed it yet as I got sidetracked today...sorry! First we went along to the Canberra Airport Open Day (GREAT fun), and then spent HOURS walking around the Camping, Outdoors and Leisure show at EPIC.

The best part of the whole day was the free ride we got in the RAAF hot air balloon. We were on the first ride up, and as it only operated for about 5 rides (due to the wind) we were very fortunate!




We also got to tour the Virgin Blue aircraft you can see in the photo above. Mr 2 was MOST impressed with the little window shutters, tray tables, hostess buzzer and light switches...he could have played in there for HOURS...small things eh?

Hope your day was fun too!
Sam.

More Dashing Pressies

This is the second project we made yesterday. They are pretty much the same as my earlier version of Dashing Christmas pressies:




The background cardstock is Real Red. In the first example I have decorated the background cardstock using the Gifts Galore wheel in Real Red classic ink. In the second example I have used the Christmas tree from Fun and Fast Notes. The second layer is Whisper White and is mounted up on dimensionals. In the second example I have distressed the edges. Then there is a layer of Real Red, and finally a layer of Whisper White.

The gifts have been punched out of Dashing DSP using the 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" square punches. The ribbons on the gifts are thin strips of Real Red cardstock. The bows are stamped in Real Red ink using the bow from the Big Bold Birthday set.

The Merry Christmas greetings have been stamped in Basic Black ink. The first is from the Occasional Greetings stamp set and the second is from the Season of Joy stamp set.

And that's it! I still have some photos of the things we made at my class here on Wednesday night to show you, but we are about to go off to the Canberra Airport open day with the kids, so it will have to wait for this afternoon!

Chat later,
Sam.

Dashing Christmas Trees

I just wanted to show you one of the cards we made at a workshop today:


The background cardstock is Real Red. The next layer is Old Olive textured cardstock. The next layer is Real Red and is mounted up on dimensionals. Then there is a layer of Confetti White.

The Christmas Trees are made using the Dashing DSP, and I have sponged Old Olive ink along their edges to give some depth. The 'feature' tree is mounted up on dimensionals. This tree is decorated with a star punched from Brushed Gold cardstock, and three baubles also punched from Brushed Gold carstock using a 1/4 inch circle punch. The star is mounted using dimensionals and the baubles are mounted with glue dots.

The tree trunks are Chocolate Chip cardstock that I have distressed using the tips of scissors. The 'Merry Christmas' greeting is stamped in Real Red classic ink and is from the Season of Joy stamp set.

I'll take a photo of the second card tomorrow!

Have a great weekend.
Sam.

Have a Dashingly Merry Christmas

I've been tinkering again this morning. I have a class and a workshop to prepare for this week...but I managed to squeeze this little blog offering in too ;-).


The colours are Real Red..yes really!..and Whisper White (the bottom WW layer is textured). The pressies are punched from the Dashing DSP using the small and large square punches. The 'bow' is from the 'Big Bold Birthday' stamp set, and the 'Merry Christmas' greeting is from Occasional Greetings stamp set. And that's it! I've done a bit of paper piercing around the main frame, and that layer is mounted up on dimensionals. A simple card.

While I was taking the pic, I was admiring my vege patch...so I thought I'd share it with you. We have lots of strawberries on the way...YUMMY!


...and enough continental parsley, thyme, marjoram, chives and oregano to keep me in Spag Bol for the next 12 months. You can't see them all here, but doesn't it look so green and tasty?


While I'm off the craft track...we went to the beach yesterday for a bit of sunny, sandy, salty, Saturday fun:




I was playing with my polarising filter and my 50 mm lens. I had some success...a significant number of blurries...but you get that.

Hope your weekend has been fun too!
Ciao, Sam.

A Tricky Color Inspiration!

I'm not afraid to say that I found Kristina's latest Colour Inspiration REALLY HARD! REALLY, REALLY HARD!!


I measure 'HARD' by the state of my workspace at the end of creating...and suffice to say this was one of the hardest...


WOT A MESSY SAMMY!

Anyhoo....I got it done, and I think it is even within deadline.


The background cardstock is Whisper White. The next layer is textured Wild Wasabi (still loving textured ;-). The Rose Red ribbon is from the Fairy Tale ribbon originals set. The 'You make me SMILE' sentiment is from the 'Anchored' Rub-Ons pack. I've then mounted a large square aluminium edged tag up on dimensionals. The next layer is Bashful Blue cardstock which has been punched out with the scallop punch and pierced around the petals. Then there is a piece of So Saffron cardstock which has been crimped and punched out using the 1 3/8" circle punch, then there is a layer of Rose Red cardstock, punched out using 3/4" circle punch and mounted up on dimensionals, and last...but certainly NOT least, is the smiley face Rub-On, from the 'A Perfect Day' pack in the current Spring Mini Catalogue.

Have a great day.....we are going to have a top of 25 degrees celcius here...BLISS!

Sam.